TOUGH TIMES CONTINUE FOR BOWYER, JACK DANIEL’S CHEVROLET AT MICHIGAN

Race/Date: LifeLock 400 – June 15, 2008 - Location: Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich. - Start Position: 11th - Finish Position: 26th - 
Points Position: 12th (Fell One Position)

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Sometimes it’s difficult to paint a pretty picture after a long struggle. Many times, adversity builds character. Often though, hard times are just difficult to swallow. The hallmark of a champion is etched by finding a way to battle through the tough times and making the best of them.

The last four weeks have been trying for the Jack Daniel’s Racing team, having not finished a race any better than 25th dating back to the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend. Over the same stretch, driver Clint Bowyer has faded from fifth to 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings.

Bowyer finished 26th, one lap down in Sunday’s LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

At the same, Mr. Jack’s Crew knows how to keep their collective eyes on the ball and not let a brief run of less-than stellar performances blur their focus on a championship in NASCAR’s premier division. After all, Bowyer’s Gil Martin-led team started the 2008 season finishing 24th, 19th and 28th, respectively, in the first three races and found themselves as deep as 23rd in points.

Over the next seven races, Bowyer and Company rattled off seven consecutive top-10 finishes, including a win and three top fives rocketing all the way to fourth in the standings.

If the season’s first three races parallel the last four, things are bound to swing the other way for Bowyer, Martin and the entire Jack Daniel’s Racing team.

In an effort to work out recent on track issues, the No. 07 will spend Tuesday and Wednesday testing at Kentucky Speedway, a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval similar in configuration to the tracks that have given the team fits in the last few weeks.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its annual visit to the lush Sonoma Valley in Northern California for the first of two road course races on the 2008 schedule.

The Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway will take the green flag Sunday, June 22nd at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will be televised live on TNT beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT and broadcast from coast-to-coast on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying will be televised live on SPEED Friday, June 20th at 7 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio carry qualifying updates live.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

“We just missed it at Michigan for whatever reason. I think we zeroed in on the problem by the end of the race because we finally got the Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet to where it wasn’t so loose that I couldn’t drive it. We’re working hard to get it turned around and once we do, we’ll be just fine. We’re going to start out by testing for two days at Kentucky Speedway this week. I’m excited to go out to Sonoma this weekend. That’s a track I really enjoy and we finished fourth there last year so, hopefully, we can get things to swing back the other way for us.”