KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Clint Bowyer understands the big picture when it comes to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s forced exit from his No. 88 Chevrolet because of a concussion, but that doesn’t mean Bowyer would leave his own car willingly.
Asked what it would take for him to step away from his ride with five races left in the Chase, Bowyer quipped, “Maybe a bullet — if they could patch that up, I may go on.
“You don’t get this opportunity in life very often. This is a year’s worth of work that goes into these last five races. It would be very hard to think about pulling yourself out.”
In terms of Earnhardt, however, Bowyer might make an exception because of the importance of NASCAR’s most popular driver to the sport as a whole.
“It just depends,” Bowyer said. “There’s so many different scenarios, but at the end of the day, it comes down to safety. There are a lot of people’s lives that depend on him being healthy, and not only for these five races but for many years to come.”
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.
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