Ford Performance NASCAR: Clint Bowyer Q&A Session (Charlotte)

Ford PR
(Ford)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)

Bank of America Roval 400 Advance (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC)

Friday, September 28, 2018

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Ford Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Clint Bowyer came into the Charlotte Motor Speedway infield media center on Friday morning to talk about his respective position in the Playoff standings and Sunday’s debut race on the Roval.  Here are transcripts from the Q&A session with the media.

 

CLINT BOWYER, No. 14 Mobil 1/Advance Auto Parts Ford Fusion – DO YOU SEE ANY SIMILARITIES THIS COURSE HAS WITH ANOTHER PLACE?  “Hell no!  But, hey, this was a good gauge for me.  Yesterday, we did a fan day at the shop at Stewart-Haas Racing.  The turnout was phenomenal.  It really took me back pre-08 in the world and especially our world of NASCAR and the energy, the turnout, the crowd.  That’s the way I remember the height of this baby.  We finally have something new to sell to a fan and, let me tell you, they’re excited to see it.  That got me excited, you know what I mean?  I think Marcus has done a good job of turning this into an event and not just another race, and I think we’re all gonna be pleasantly and excited to see the crowd that shows up for this race.  I think we’re all in store for something new and it’s pretty exciting to know we’re on the forefront of that.”

 

IS THAT A SIGN THEY SHOULD DO MORE OF THIS AND CHANGE THINGS UP ON THE SCHEDULE?  “We’re trying something new in our sport and I’m happy that our sport is doing that.  Yes, I’ve said for a long time we need something new.  I don’t think that every mile-and-a-half track needs to put a road course in the infield.  I don’t mean that by something new, but certainly Marcus having the ability and vision to be able to change one of his races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and make it something new for the fans is pretty remarkable in today’s day and age.  If you look around there’s a lot of signage, there’s a lot of infrastructure, there’s a lot of change, a lot of investment went into this event this weekend and I hope for his sake that it goes off with a big bang.”

 

I PRESUME THE ROLEX 24 MAY BE THE CLOSEST THING TO THIS AND YOU’VE RUN THAT BEFORE.  DOES THAT GIVE YOU ANY SORT OF EDGE?  “Yeah, we ought to make this a 24-hour race.  It would be a lot more fun.  We might as well.  We’ve done everything else.  I think the 24 would be fun, but I want to do it all myself.”

 

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR POSITION IN THE PLAYOFFS?  “I think anytime you have something new like this you’ve got to look at it as an opportunity.  I need an opportunity.  Four points out of the Playoffs you need an opportunity and this is exactly what this track is.  We had a good test here.  I made a lot of laps here relatively comfortable and enjoyed it.  I’m gonna enjoy this weekend and I think the opportunity is there and we’ve got to go out and take it.”

 

 

 

CAN YOU APPLY ANYTHING FROM SONOMA OR WATKINS GLEN TO WHAT YOU’LL DO HERE?  “I think just the rhythm.  It’s rhythmatic.  You’ve got to get out there, find that rhythm, find that comfort zone and ride in it – take care of those Goodyear tires and pace yourself, but rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm.  Get in that rhythm.  Don’t make mistakes.  Stay on the race track.  Focus on what you’re doing and that’s always been the principle that I’ve learned and went by and has always put me in the money on the road courses, so you’ve got to enjoy these weekends.  You can’t go into this thing scared to death and panicked and worried about anything.  I mean, you’re driving down here and it starts raining and I’m like, ‘Let’s see what happens.’  It doesn’t do any good to worry about it or try to think about what the race is gonna hold.  This thing is gonna go either one of two ways.  At the test, I saw a lot of cars – obviously we saw cars wrecking, but we saw a lot of cars spinning out in maybe one corner or the other and getting it gathered up and going on.  If those turn into full course cautions, then you’ve got a race that all hell is gonna break loose.  If they can get that thing gathered up and get going and just keep it as a local caution or whatever they call it, I think somewhat the race will play out and run green.  But these are the best racers stock car has, motorsports has, so we’re gonna go out there and put on a show and race hard.  People are always expecting the worst and I think you’ll see the best.  I really do.”

 

WHAT ABOUT THE PREPARATION FOR THIS EVENT?  “The same thing you do every week – go work on the task at hand.  For two years you’re not worried about this track, you’re worried about last week I was worried about Richmond.  This week I’m worried about the Roval.  You can’t worry about one specific track or one specific weekend in this thing, you’ve got to be good on all of them.  You can’t just be good on one of them.”

 

DO YOU AS A DRIVER GET CAUGHT UP IN THE HYPE OF THIS THING?  “I’ve always been a realist and always cautious to oversell something.  You always want to over-deliver.  The scariest thing to me is getting all this hype and it’s no different.  You see anything in the media this day and age it’s oversold pretty much and sometimes it’s under-delivered.  I think we’re gonna deliver in a big way.  I think fans are gonna see something they’ve never seen before.  Is there gonna be havoc?  Yes.  Is it gonna be a race full of it?  I don’t think so, but it could be.  But I think you see that at every track.  Every now and then, for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter if it’s a mile-and-a-half, short track at Bristol, it doesn’t matter, just all hell breaks loose and you can’t get out of it.  It’s just a vicious cycle and at other times it’ll go green all the way through.  I really think you’re gonna see one or the other here.  I think it’s gonna be those cautions will breed cautions just like they always do, or this thing might go green and surprise everybody until the end and a caution comes out and all hell breaks loose.  I think all hell will break loose, I just don’t know how it’s going to and when it’s going to.”

 

 

 

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
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.