Clint Bowyer is feeling the playoff pressure

August 11, 2017 Greg Engle Main Page, NASCAR News Top Story, Top Stories 0

(Getty Images)

Clint Bowyer enters Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway (on NBCSN at 3 p.m. ET) 17th in points, 28 behind Matt Kenseth for the final playoff spot in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points race. To qualify for the postseason, he must either pass Kenseth and hope nobody below him wins, or win himself.

With four races left until the postseason starts, intensity is amped-up at Michigan International Speedway, the 2-mile oval an hour-plus from the birthplace of America’s automotive industry.

“There’s always pressure,” Bowyer said. “There’s pressure in the Daytona 500 to go out there and perform and try to win that race. It’s no different now. You still focus on the task at hand. You focus on unloading a fast racecar, making good downforce, making good horsepower.”

But a fast car that handles well might not be enough. Bowyer and his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team will likely take big chances to try to steal a win. “I’m the hunter not the hunted, so it’s a lot of fun to go into this weekend knowing that you’ve got to go out there and chase that guy down, or chase those guys down and hopefully pop off a win here.”

In Bowyer’s 23 series starts at Michigan, he has posted 11 top-10 finishes.

Greg Engle
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Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.