Clint Bowyer - No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 
Impala SS Preview 

Event Preview Fact Sheet - Event/Date: LENOX Industrial Tools 301 – June 29, 2008
Venue: New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, N.H.

• NOTES:

* This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at New Hampshire Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 212 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This is the same car Bowyer steered to the Winner’s Circle in May at Richmond International Raceway and to second-place finish in April at Phoenix International Raceway. Built new for 2007, this No. 07 Chevrolet Impala SS sat on the pole and won last September at New Hampshire. Additionally, the third-year Sprint Cup Series driver raced this car to a 12th-place finish last September at Richmond and an 11th-place showing in November at Phoenix. 

* New Hampshire Notes … Bowyer is the most recent winner at New Hampshire after earning the pole, leading 222 laps and recording his first Sprint Cup Series victory last fall in the Sylvania 300. In four Sprint Cup Series starts at NHMS, Bowyer has logged a 17.5 starting average and a 22.3 finishing average at the flat, one- mile oval located just over 75 miles north of Boston. 

* In the Loop at Loudon … Bowyer recorded a perfect 150.0 Driver Rating with last fall’s win at NHMS. The Emporia, Kan., native logged a 1.573 Average Running Position, recorded an average speed of 125.715 mph during the first 25 laps following each pit stop, along with an average speed of 123.936 mph during the final 25 laps of a run following a pit stop, making him the Fastest Driver Early in a Run and the Fastest Driver Late in a Run. Bowyer was the fastest driver in all four turns last September at Loudon, recorded the fastest lap of the race 78 times and was also the fastest car on restarts with an average speed of 123.197 mph. He spent all 300 laps racing in the top 15 and led 222 of the 300 laps (74 percent) contested. 

* A Look Back at Last Weekend … Bowyer snapped a four-race stretch of finishes of 25th or worse with a fourth-place run last weekend at Infineon Raceway. It was the two-time series’ winner’s fourth top-five finish of 2008, elevating him from 12th to 10th in the Sprint Cup Series championship point standings. * 20 To Go … After the first 16 races on the 2008 schedule, Bowyer has notched one win, four top fives, eight top 10s and sits 10th in points. He has led 150 laps and earned just over $2 million in winnings. At this time last season, Bowyer had yet to win a race but logged one pole, one top-five and seven top-10 finishes. Heading in to round one at New Hampshire last June, the Jack Daniel’s Racing team was ninth in points but with one less win and three fewer top fives.

* A Legacy Pledge … RCR team owner Richard Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon will compete at Loudon this weekend when the NASCAR Camping World East Series unfurls the green flag on the Helluva Good! Summer 125. Dillon is the son of RCR Vice President of Competition Mike Dillon and is the current point leader on the 13-race tour. The Lewisville, N.C., driver won in his Camping World Series debut in the season opener at Greenville-Pickens (S.C.) Speedway and has earned one pole, two top-five and three top-10 finishes in four starts. The Helluva Good! Summer 125 will take the green flag Friday, June 27 at 5:10 p.m. local time. 

* RCR at NHMS … Richard Childress is tied for third all time with Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske for car owner victories at NHMS with three – Robby Gordon (2001), Kevin Harvick (2006) and Bowyer (2007). In 60 starts at the one-mile oval, Childress also boasts two poles, 10 top-five and 25 top-10 finishes with nine different drivers including Dave Blaney, Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Harvick, Gordon, Jeff Green, Steve Park and Mike Skinner. 

* Two-Time Winner … Bowyer’s crew chief Gil Martin is a two-time winner in Sprint Cup Series action at the “Magic Mile” having guided both Gordon and Bowyer to Victory Lane at NHMS.

* Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has been running at the end of every race dating back to Phoenix in November 2006, a streak of 53 races. The only other driver running at the end of more consecutive races is Harvick who extended his own modern-era (1972-present) streak last weekend in Sonoma by finishing his 60th consecutive race without recording a DNF (did not finish). 

* Native New Englanders … Mike Geato, mechanic and former tire specialist on Mr. Jack’s Crew, hails from Portland, Conn., just shy of 180 miles south of NHMS. Geato, 38, has been with RCR since January 2005. Car foreman Andrew Mason hails from South Bristol, Maine, approximately 160 miles north of Loudon. Mason, 36, is a former nuclear engineer and a 10-year veteran of RCR. 

* Meet the Press … Bowyer will be available outside the Jack Daniel’s Racing transporter inside the Sprint Cup Series garage area Friday, June 27 at 9:30 a.m. to field questions from the gathered media. 

* Double Duty at the Magic Mile … In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevy, Bowyer will also race the No. 2 Camping World Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race. The Camping World RV Sales 200 will be televised live on ABC Saturday, June 28 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 18th of 35 points-paying races on the 2008 schedule for NASCAR’s junior division will be televised live on SPEED the same day beginning at 10 a.m. EDT. 

* Catch the Action … Live coverage of the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway will take the green flag Sunday, June 29 at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The race will be televised on TNT and broadcast worldwide on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for round 17 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship will be televised live on SPEED Friday, June 27 at 3 p.m. EDT. MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio will provide live qualifying updates.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

After three straight weeks of having to travel back and forth across the country for non-companion events, what’s it going to feel like to actually race both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series’ races at the same track?

“It’ll be nice. It will definitely be back to normal – that’s for sure. June is kind of the month from hell but it’s been worth it. Honestly, it’s been neat. How many times do you get a chance to fly in to a race track on a helicopter or fly from race track to race track on a private jet? You get on a helicopter right after you step off a jet, land in the infield and go racing. How can it get any better than that? It’s so cool but it’s going to be nice to race both cars and walk across the way and get in the Nationwide car.”

How cool is it to go back to Loudon knowing not only that you got your first win there but at the same time, you’re the most recent winner?

“Loudon has been good to me. I really, really like that race track. I like that style race track. It’s not just New Hampshire in particular, I like the short tracks. The mile race tracks and tracks that are close to that size … I just enjoy that type of racing. Since last fall, anytime anyone asks about my favorite race track, I tell them New Hampshire. How can I not? That’s where I got my first win. Hopefully, we can go back there this weekend and be as fast as we were last time. I’m sure everyone else has gotten better since then but we’re hoping the same package we ran in September will be competitive again this Sunday and we can race for another win.”

What happened at New Hampshire last fall? Before that race, your best finish at Loudon was 24th. It’s hard to imagine that you just backed into a car that was that dominant.

“If you look at last year versus the year before, we were really able to pick our program up. That just shows you how far behind I was from an experience standpoint. We were also a new team in the series three years ago. We were fresh and made mistakes. Nine times out of 10 when you see those big finishes, not the 12th to 21st, but it’s the 21st to 41st-place finishes that are typically mistakes. You don’t have finishes like that in the equipment that we’re in and not have something catastrophic go wrong. You can chalk a lot of the first year up to rookie mistakes on my part and to the part of a young team.”

How did it feel to be as dominant as you were last September? How did it feel to know that no one else had a chance?

“I’ve always felt that the best way to win is in dominant fashion. It hadn’t been since my dirt days when I’ve had a car that was so much better than everyone else’s. It was pretty cool to not only beat the best in the business but to beat them with authority.”