CupScene.com

(By NASCAR Wire Service)

Posted: Saturday,September 25th, 2010

What should have been a week of celebration became one of controversy, as Clint Bowyer and his Richard Childress Racing team were penalized severely by NASCAR after the driver broke an 88-race winless drought last Sunday at New Hampshire. Bowyer’s race-winning No. 33 Chevrolet was deemed to have been outside NASCAR’s tolerances when laser-measured earlier this week at the sanctioning body’s research-and-development center in Concord, N.C. Bowyer was docked 150 championship points, dropping him from second to 12th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.

Asserting a legal car was brought to New Hampshire and contact from other cars during the race and from a wrecker required to push the No. 33 Chevy to victory lane after the race, Richard Childress Racing is appealing NASCAR’s penalties, which include a six-week suspension and $150,000 fine for crew chief Shane Wilson. In the second installment of his Chase diary, Bowyer discusses the New Hampshire car, the fuel conservation necessary to win the race and his outlook on Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover. Bowyer’s reaction to the penalty comes from a statement he made Friday at Dover.

You always want to win races. You’re very proud to win races, and I’m still proud of that win. I don’t believe that we did anything wrong. I guess I’ll go on record and say that. I want my fans to know that. There’s a lot of integrity that goes into this sport. I love this sport, and I wouldn’t cheat to win a race.

Usually, fuel-mileage races are kind of boring. New Hampshire wasn’t because for the simple fact people ran out of gas. Usually, all the suspense is there, and nothing ever happens, and it fizzles out. It’s like a big firecracker you’re waiting for, and then nothing happens. It’s a dud. That was exciting. I hated it for Tony (Stewart, who ran out of gas while leading with just over a lap left), but I was glad for our race team that we were able to win. We had a fast car—we were dominant all day long—but he had us beat. We were just able to save a little bit more.

We were having trouble with our carburetor, and there was one restart where I didn’t think it would make it another lap. It was spitting, popping, sputtering, and it had to have gotten some dirt in the needle. That’s what it sounded like. That’s what it felt like. And finally it cleared out there at the end of the race and was barely missing by the end. I’m telling you, though, on that one restart, it was horrible. They were passing on both sides.

I was in a situation where they told me not to go after it. I thought that we had a car fast enough on a long run all day long that I could have gone up there and made it very interesting for Tony. But in that situation, we started saving fuel with 60 laps to go, and that’s a long time. After the last caution, Shane told me we were still two laps short, and I was thinking three. Any time they tell you a little bit, you’d better be thinking a little bit more than that, and I was, and luckily it all worked out.

You really have to kind of train yourself to drive all over again while saving fuel, a whole different line. You’ve trained, you’ve practiced the whole time you’re there—all week—where you’re lifting getting into the corner and where you pick the gas up. Then, when you start lifting early, and that means you’ve got to let it roll through the corner and not hit the brakes ’til a lot later than you were. Once I got honed in, I could keep some good speed with Stewart and pressure him a little bit and not let him back up.

Dover’s a place where we can win. I’ve thought that for the last three years, and I really thought it would happen already. I’m excited about Dover and then going into Kansas, two great racetracks for me. We haven’t finished the best at Dover, but we’ve always run really, really strong there.

New Hampshire and Dover are polar opposites. I’ll bet the center corner speeds at Dover are almost double. Dover’s a fun racetrack. You’ve got to climb up on the wheel and make things happen, and as a racecar driver, that’s what you want to see.

— As told to Reid Spencer

Clint Bowyer, driver of the #33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet speaks with crew chief Shane Wilson (R), prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 17, 2010 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)