Clint Bowyer’s Next Ride
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It was announced last week that Clint Bowyer was stepping down from his ride in the number 14 Stewart-Haas Ford to go into the booth at FOX. I have mixed emotions about it. I want him to do what he wants to do, but I hate to see any driver of his caliber step aside. It’s never easy. My prayer is that he did this on his terms. Leaving your love needs to be on your terms. Closure and regret-free life is important. Life is too short for the cancer of “What if…” that can consume your very soul.
I’m not sure that I would call myself a Clint Bowyer fan. There are probably drivers that I like a little better, but I always had my eye on him. Each week, when the dust settles, I find myself asking, “Where’s Clint?”
Maybe it was because in a weird way our careers in racing have run parallel paths in an odd sort of way. Those parallels create a connection that I don’t have with other drivers.
You probably recall Clint’s entrance to the sport, how he almost didn’t take the call from Richard Childress to come drive at RCR because he thought it was some friends pranking him. My entry into writing about “the Bigs” went down a similar path… this offer to write had to be a prank.
Luckily for the both of us, it wasn’t and we both said “Yes.” Clint arrived on the scene at 200 mile per hour while mine was an unimpressive 29 words per minute. But we were there… and while there hoped to make a difference.
Clint started with RCR in 2004 in Xfinity. He ran eleven seasons in Xfinity. He only ran three full seasons which he finished 2nd in 2005, 3rd in 2006 before winning it all in 2008.
Clint burst into Cup full time in 2006 with what I have felt has been the closest thing to marketing perfection to ever hit the sport. Perfect car. Perfect team. Perfect color. Perfect sponsor. Perfect number. Perfect driver… with a perfect story.
Car. Nothing says NASCAR like Chevy (and I’m a Ford fan).
Team. Richard Childress Racing.
Color. Black… like “The Intimidator’s”.
Sponsor. Jack Daniels. Lynchburg Tennessee’s smoothest and finest.
Number. 07. The Old No. 07, Jack Daniels’ brand name.
Driver. Clint Bowyer
Story. Rough and tumble. Climbed up through the ranks. Everyman’s Wheelman.
The complete package. Marketing Perfection.
And man, if that car didn’t look fast sitting still…
I’m not sure that I would call myself a Clint Bowyer fan. There are probably drivers that I like a little better, but I always had my eye on him. Each week, when the dust settles, I find myself asking, “Where’s Clint?”
Maybe it was because in a weird way our careers in racing have run parallel paths in an odd sort of way. Those parallels create a connection that I don’t have with other drivers.
You probably recall Clint’s entrance to the sport, how he almost didn’t take the call from Richard Childress to come drive at RCR because he thought it was some friends pranking him. My entry into writing about “the Bigs” went down a similar path… this offer to write had to be a prank.
Luckily for the both of us, it wasn’t and we both said “Yes.” Clint arrived on the scene at 200 mile per hour while mine was an unimpressive 29 words per minute. But we were there… and while there hoped to make a difference.
Clint started with RCR in 2004 in Xfinity. He ran eleven seasons in Xfinity. He only ran three full seasons which he finished 2nd in 2005, 3rd in 2006 before winning it all in 2008.
Clint burst into Cup full time in 2006 with what I have felt has been the closest thing to marketing perfection to ever hit the sport. Perfect car. Perfect team. Perfect color. Perfect sponsor. Perfect number. Perfect driver… with a perfect story.
Car. Nothing says NASCAR like Chevy (and I’m a Ford fan).
Team. Richard Childress Racing.
Color. Black… like “The Intimidator’s”.
Sponsor. Jack Daniels. Lynchburg Tennessee’s smoothest and finest.
Number. 07. The Old No. 07, Jack Daniels’ brand name.
Driver. Clint Bowyer
Story. Rough and tumble. Climbed up through the ranks. Everyman’s Wheelman.
The complete package. Marketing Perfection.
And man, if that car didn’t look fast sitting still…
It was faster still on the track with Bowyer behind the wheel.
In his first full Cup season, Clint turned heads at Daytona by starting 37th and driving the 07 to a sixth-place finish. He would go on to finish his rookie season with 11 Top 10’s, 4 Top 5’s including a third at Fontana. He would start on the front row at the Brickyard and brought 07 home in one piece in 32 of 36 races. He led 112 laps while completing 96.7% of the laps on his way to a 17th finish in the Points.
Clint literally exploded into 2007 with his flaming finish at the Daytona 500. Eleven races into the season he collected his first pole at Darlington. Sixteen races later, 64 races into his Cup career, Bowyer earned his second pole and led 195 of 222 laps on his way to his first career win. He would finish his second full Cup season third in Points.
He stayed with RCR through 2011, collecting a total of five wins and a fifth place in Points to go with his third-place finish in 2008. Then it was on to new pastures, joining Michael Waltrip’s Toyota team.
He opened there with his best season - three wins and finished second in points behind Brad Keselowski. It was at the Playoff race at Phoenix we got to see Bowyer’s intensity on and off the track as on-track dustups between him and Jeff Gordon continues off-track after the race with Bowyer exiting his ride and running through the garage area to join the post-race fracas.
That will be a lasting memory for me of the driver from Emporia, KS.
Bowyer stayed with MWR until it folded at the end of 2015. He spent 2016 driving for Harry Scott, Jr. before Tony Stewart hired him in 2017 to fill his seat in the #14. 2018 saw Clint get his final two wins (to date)-Martinsville and Michigan. In 2020, Clint announced that after 16 years in Cup he would call it a career and turn in his fire suit for a jacket and tie and move into the FOX broadcast booth.
Sunday was his final race at his home track at Kansas City. It was bittersweet as he finished 26th before a crowd decimated by COVID restrictions. Hardly the way one would like to see his final race there end. Everyone wants stories like his to have a Hollywood ending but Sunday, it just wasn’t to be.
Three more races will bring his Cup career to close. During it, Clint Bowyer has not only provided exciting memories on the track but has given a refreshing perspective off the track. One that will always stick with me is what he said in his 2018 defense of Dale Jr. when Kevin Harvick openly criticized Junior for not winning “enough”, causing the sport to suffer.
Clint Bowyer was one driver who openly said it's the product -- on and off the racetrack -- that would drive NASCAR’s future success.
“There’s no one person. I believe in products. If you have a good product, they’ll come. If you put a good product on that racetrack, and not only the racetrack, a good product in the infield, a good environment in the grandstands, take care of the kids, the families and all the demographics -- take care of all of that -- you’re always going to have fans flock to the track.”
Clint got it right. I believe it today as I believed it then. It’s the product. It has always been the product. This sport will sink or swim, thrive or die based on the product.
As we finish the 2020 season and Clint Bowyer trades his helmet and HANS device for a microphone, I hope he uses his new platform to continue his message - It’s the product. He gets it. The fans get it. I hope the Sanctioning Body hears and gets it. The sport Is at a crossroad. Failure to give the product what it needs going forward will have dire consequences.
As Clint closes one Chapter and begins another, there will be pressures that come with that… pressures to squelch what may need to be said. I hope those pressures don’t change him. I hope his candor and freshness never go away. I hope he never forgets that it’s the product.
The fans sure won’t forget.
Thanks for the memories Clint. You’ve given us a heck of a ride. Glad we got to see it. Good luck!
In his first full Cup season, Clint turned heads at Daytona by starting 37th and driving the 07 to a sixth-place finish. He would go on to finish his rookie season with 11 Top 10’s, 4 Top 5’s including a third at Fontana. He would start on the front row at the Brickyard and brought 07 home in one piece in 32 of 36 races. He led 112 laps while completing 96.7% of the laps on his way to a 17th finish in the Points.
Clint literally exploded into 2007 with his flaming finish at the Daytona 500. Eleven races into the season he collected his first pole at Darlington. Sixteen races later, 64 races into his Cup career, Bowyer earned his second pole and led 195 of 222 laps on his way to his first career win. He would finish his second full Cup season third in Points.
He stayed with RCR through 2011, collecting a total of five wins and a fifth place in Points to go with his third-place finish in 2008. Then it was on to new pastures, joining Michael Waltrip’s Toyota team.
He opened there with his best season - three wins and finished second in points behind Brad Keselowski. It was at the Playoff race at Phoenix we got to see Bowyer’s intensity on and off the track as on-track dustups between him and Jeff Gordon continues off-track after the race with Bowyer exiting his ride and running through the garage area to join the post-race fracas.
That will be a lasting memory for me of the driver from Emporia, KS.
Bowyer stayed with MWR until it folded at the end of 2015. He spent 2016 driving for Harry Scott, Jr. before Tony Stewart hired him in 2017 to fill his seat in the #14. 2018 saw Clint get his final two wins (to date)-Martinsville and Michigan. In 2020, Clint announced that after 16 years in Cup he would call it a career and turn in his fire suit for a jacket and tie and move into the FOX broadcast booth.
Sunday was his final race at his home track at Kansas City. It was bittersweet as he finished 26th before a crowd decimated by COVID restrictions. Hardly the way one would like to see his final race there end. Everyone wants stories like his to have a Hollywood ending but Sunday, it just wasn’t to be.
Three more races will bring his Cup career to close. During it, Clint Bowyer has not only provided exciting memories on the track but has given a refreshing perspective off the track. One that will always stick with me is what he said in his 2018 defense of Dale Jr. when Kevin Harvick openly criticized Junior for not winning “enough”, causing the sport to suffer.
Clint Bowyer was one driver who openly said it's the product -- on and off the racetrack -- that would drive NASCAR’s future success.
“There’s no one person. I believe in products. If you have a good product, they’ll come. If you put a good product on that racetrack, and not only the racetrack, a good product in the infield, a good environment in the grandstands, take care of the kids, the families and all the demographics -- take care of all of that -- you’re always going to have fans flock to the track.”
Clint got it right. I believe it today as I believed it then. It’s the product. It has always been the product. This sport will sink or swim, thrive or die based on the product.
As we finish the 2020 season and Clint Bowyer trades his helmet and HANS device for a microphone, I hope he uses his new platform to continue his message - It’s the product. He gets it. The fans get it. I hope the Sanctioning Body hears and gets it. The sport Is at a crossroad. Failure to give the product what it needs going forward will have dire consequences.
As Clint closes one Chapter and begins another, there will be pressures that come with that… pressures to squelch what may need to be said. I hope those pressures don’t change him. I hope his candor and freshness never go away. I hope he never forgets that it’s the product.
The fans sure won’t forget.
Thanks for the memories Clint. You’ve given us a heck of a ride. Glad we got to see it. Good luck!