Clint Bowyer - No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Impala SS
Event Preview Fact Sheet - Event/Date: Pocono 500 – June 8, 2008
Venue: Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa.

· This Weekend’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Pocono Raceway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 247 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Built new for 2008, this is the same Jack Daniel’s Chevy Bowyer and his Gil Martin-led team tested at Pocono last Tuesday and Wednesday. The May 27-28 shakedown was the first time this car had been on the race track.

· Back on Track with Mr. Jack … After showcasing a DIRECTV paint scheme last weekend in Dover, Bowyer’s No. 07 Chevy Impala SS returns to its traditional black and white Jack Daniel’s colors this weekend in Pocono. With the exception of Watkins Glen in August, where DIRECTV is slated for the primary sponsor role, Jack Daniel’s will maintain the primary position through the remainder of the season.

· Pocono Points … In four Sprint Cup Series starts at Pocono Raceway, Bowyer has logged a pair of top-10 finishes and calls his eighth-place effort last August a career-best. He has two finishes of 21st or worse over those four starts and has completed all but six of the 706 laps of competition dating back to his rookie season.

· Gearing Up for the Long Haul … Over the next three weeks, Bowyer will compete in eight events at eight different race tracks in eight states in four different types of cars. Beginning with Wednesday night’s Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway, Bowyer will pilot his Jack Daniel’s-sponsored dirt late model followed by his appearance in the No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS at Nashville Superspeedway for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race. On Sunday, he’ll race the Jack Daniel’s Chevy Impala SS at Pocono before heading to Sedalia, Mo., for next Wednesday’s Summer Nationals benefitting the Michael Ross Memorial Foundation where he’ll return to his roots and wheel a dirt modified car. Next weekend, the 29-year old driver will commute between Michigan International Speedway and Kentucky Speedway for the second of three consecutive non-companion Nationwide/Sprint Cup weekends. The week after that, Bowyer will go back and forth between Infineon Raceway and The Milwaukee Mile – a vast 4,312-mile roundtrip journey.

· From the Driver’s Seat to the Owner’s Suite … In addition to driving his own dirt late model on Wednesday night at Eldora, Bowyer will wear the car owner’s hat as he fields a second car out of the Clint Bowyer Racing stable for defending Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson.

· 800 Miles and Then Some … As he pursues the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship, Bowyer will commute 3,220 miles between Pocono Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., where NASCAR’s junior division competes this weekend. The 29-year-old driver will depart Pocono via helicopter immediately following qualifying on Friday afternoon, and head for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton airport before boarding teammate Kevin Harvick’s Lear 31jet bound for Symrna (Tenn.) Airport. If all goes according to plan, Bowyer will practice the BB&T Chevy Friday night before returning to Pocono that evening to practice the Jack Daniel’s Chevy twice the following day. On Saturday, he will head back to Nashville in time to qualify and race the No. 2 machine for the Federated Auto Parts 300 and return to Pocono that night. Stephen Leicht will be standing by in the event that weather delays Bowyer’s arrival in Nashville.

· RCR at Pocono … In 92 starts at Pocono, RCR team owner Richard Childress has two wins, both of them coming with Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt won the Summer 500 on July 19, 1987 and the Miller Genuine Draft 500 on July 18, 1993. Additionally, RCR has earned one pole, 10 top-five and 38 top-10 finishes at the uniquely-shaped three-turn speedway. Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, contributed two of those top 10s from 1976-1980.

· Home Sweet Home … One member of the Jack Daniel’s racing team calls the Keystone State home. Troy Welty grew up in nearby Manchester, Pa., located in York County, just over 140 miles southwest of Pocono Raceway.

· Testing, One, Two, Three, Testing … Bowyer and RCR’s No. 07 team tested at Pocono Raceway on Tuesday, May 27 and Wednesday, May 28 in preparation for the Pocono 500. The test was the sixth of seven allowed under NASCAR’s 2008 testing policy. The remaining test available to teams in NASCAR’s top division is scheduled to be conducted at Lowe’s Motor Speedway September 23-24.

· Down on Dover … Last weekend at Dover International Speedway, Bowyer caught a piece of the lap 17, 11-car incident on the back straightaway but that didn’t keep him from working his way as high as 11th just before the halfway mark. Unfortunately, a broken right-front shock mount, reported on lap 211, led to the No. 07 team’s ultimate demise at the “Monster Mile” leaving them with a 36th-place finish.

· After 13 … In the season’s first 13 races, Bowyer has notched one win, three top-five and seven top-10 finishes. The 28-year-old driver has logged a 23.1 starting average and a sturdy 14.5 finishing average. He has completed 4,441 of the 4,464 (99.48 percent) total laps run this season but, following his 36th-place finish last weekend in Dover, the Emporia, Kan., native fell from fifth to eighth in the Sprint Cup Series championship point standings.

· Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has been running at the end of every race dating back to Phoenix in November 2006, a streak of 48 races. The only other driver running at the end of more consecutive races is Harvick who owns a streak of 57 events without a DNF (did not finish).

* Catching Up With Clint … Bowyer will meet with the gathered press outside the No. 07 transporter inside the Sprint Cup Series garage area Friday, June 6 at 11:15 a.m. 

* Experience is Essential … Bowyer will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Sunday, June 8 at 11 a.m. The Jack Daniel’s Experience is a 42-foot tractor- trailer filled with artifacts, state-of-the art video monitors, sound system and graphics to give race fans a taste of Lynchburg and the Distillery. The Jack Daniel’s Experience will be located in the track’s Fan Zone area outside the start/finish line and be open on Friday from 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Autographs may be available on a first come first serve basis and will be limited in number due to time constraints.

* Nationwide Series in Nashville … Live coverage of the Federated Auto Parts 300 presented by Dollar General will take the green flag Saturday, June 7 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The race will be televised live on ESPN2 and broadcast on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 15th race on the 2008 Nationwide Series calendar is scheduled to be televised live on ESPN2 the same day at 3 p.m. EDT.

* Up to Speed … Flag-to-flag coverage of the Pocono 500 from Pocono Raceway is scheduled to take the green flag Sunday, June 8 at 2 p.m. EDT. The event will be televised live on TNT beginning at 12:30 p.m. The race will also be broadcast live on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 14th points-paying race on the 2008 Sprint Cup Series calendar is slated to air live on SPEED Friday, June 6 at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

Do you feel like the Pocono test was successful for the Jack Daniel’s team?

“I think it was. We hit on a few things and picked up some speed. Anytime you’re able to do that at a test, it has to be considered a gain. Pocono is a different type of race track. There’s no way of getting around that. Obviously, it’s quite a bit different than any other track we race on. They re-paved a patch of the track over in turn three and that’s changed things up a little bit. Turn three is such an important corner to get set up for that long straightaway down the front stretch, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the passing goes coming off (turn) three. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put on a good show for the fans.”

Do you like where your team is at this point of the season.

“Absolutely. You always want to be better and look to be better but life could be a lot worse. So far, so good. We’ve had the consistency and hopefully, we can keep that up down the summer stretch and into the Chase. We all know the Chase is the main goal. You have to make the Chase before you can run for the championship so we need to keep the ball rolling.”

You’ve had a bit of a rough patch the last few weeks, in terms of the final result but from a speed standpoint, the Jack Daniel’s team has been very consistent.

“Consistency is always a very hard thing to find. We have to find a little more speed, we know that, but we’re racing smart. You’re bound to have a little bad luck like we did in Charlotte and last weekend in Dover but we need to keep our composure, dig deep and get the very best finishes that we can in those types of situations. That’s what excites me about the Jack Daniel’s team. Two years ago, we would have shorted out and finished 43rd at both those places. Now, we hang in there and keep fighting.”