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

Event Preview Fact Sheet - Event/Date: LifeLock.com 400 – July 12, 2008
Venue: Chicagoland Speedway – Joliet, Ill.

• Notes

* This Week’s Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet at Chicagoland Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 253 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This is a brand new Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet that will be put through its paces for the first time this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. 

* Great City, Great Track … In two Sprint Cup starts at the mile-and-a-half Joliet, Ill., oval, Bowyer has one top-10 start and a pair of top-10 finishes. He enjoys a strong 9.5 finishing average and has completed all 537 laps over those two races. 

* The Great Escape … Bowyer managed to come away from last week’s Coke Zero 400 unscathed and with a ninth-place finish. The third year Sprint Cup Series driver avoided being collected in six caution flags that consumed 14 of the event’s final 29 laps to pick up his ninth top 10 of the season and move up one spot, from 11th to 10th, in points. 

* The Winning Touch … Bowyer’s crew chief Gil Martin guided Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag in the 2002 LifeLock.com 400. 

* Halfway Home … After the first 18 races on the 36-race Sprint Cup Series schedule, Bowyer has notched one win, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes. He’s logged a 22.7 starting average and a 16th-place finishing average. The 29-year old driver has completed 5,356 of the 5,425 (98.72 percent) laps run the season and led eight times for 150 laps. 

* Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has been running at the end of every race dating back to Phoenix in November 2006, a streak of 55 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 at Daytona by finishing his 62nd consecutive race without recording a DNF (did not finish).

* RCR at Chicago … Richard Childress is tied with Joe Gibbs for most car owner victories at Chicagoland with two. Harvick scored back-to-back wins for RCR in the 2001-2002 LifeLock.com 400. In 21 starts at the 1.5-mile suburban Chicago tri-oval, Childress also boasts five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes with eight different drivers including Dave Blaney, Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, Harvick, Steve Park and Mike Skinner.

* 2008 in Review … In 55 starts this season, RCR-prepared Sprint Cup Series entries have notched two wins (Burton – Bristol, Bowyer – Richmond), 10 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes. The Welcome, N.C.,-based race team has completed 16,400 laps in 2008 with four different drivers including Bowyer, Burton, Harvick and Ken Schrader. Meanwhile, RCR teams have logged 22,374.4 miles of competition this season and been on top of the leaderboard for 300 laps. 

* Race to the Chase … This weekend’s Cup Series event at Chicagoland Speedway marks the third Race to the Chase event – the 10-race stretch preceding the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, which kicks off when NASCAR’s premier division returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Over the 10 “Race to the Chase” events last year (New Hampshire – Richmond), Bowyer posted one top-five and four top-10 finishes, notching an average finish of 14.3. His only finish outside the top 20 was at New Hampshire last July when he finished 37th after a freak incident on pit road cost Mr. Jack’s Crew eight laps. At this time last year, Bowyer was 11th in points – 631 markers behind then-leader Jeff Gordon. Currently, he is 10th in points – 527 back from point leader Kyle Busch. 

* Meet the Press … Bowyer will meet with the gathered press outside the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s transporter inside the Sprint Cup Series garage area Thursday, July 10 at 2 p.m. 

* Experience is Essential … Bowyer will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Saturday, July 12 at 2:30 p.m. The Jack Daniel’s Experience is a 53-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 next to the Main Gate inside Champions Park and be open on Thursday from 1 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., Friday from Noon – 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Autographs may be available on a first come, first serve basis and will be limited in number due to time constraints. 

* Wide Open in the Windy City … 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 Dollar General 300 Powered by Coca-Cola will be televised live on ESPN Saturday, July 11 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 20th race on the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule will be televised on ESPN2 the same day beginning at 4 p.m. EDT. 

* Up to Speed … The LifeLock.com 400 from Chicagoland Speedway will take the green flag Saturday, July 12 at 8 p.m. EDT. The race will be televised live on TNT beginning at 6:30 p.m. EDT and broadcast from coast-to-coast on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 19th points-paying race on the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series calendar will be televised live on SPEED Friday, July 11 at 8:30 p.m. EDT.

• CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

How do you feel about where you’re at, from a points standpoint, on the Cup side?

“It’s a little too close for comfort right now. It’s getting down to brass tacks because the Chase is coming up fast. There are still eight races to go before the Chase starts, and that’s a lot of racing, but we can’t afford too many more hiccups or we’re going to be in trouble. We don’t want to be forced to throw any Hail Mary’s because sometimes those work and sometimes they don’t. We got another top 10 last week at Daytona and that was important. We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing over these next eight races. There are cars in front of us that I think we’re better than right now and if things go right, we’ll finish ahead of them.”

Do you have to be more careful on the Cup side?

“The Cup side is so competitive that you have to be careful with every move you make. It’s more of the same but twice the pressure than you have on the Nationwide side.”

You’ve had top 10s in both of your starts at Chicagoland. Why do you think you marry up so well to that track?

“I always look forward to going to Chicago because I’m nervous about Kansas. It’s very important to me to run well at Chicago because I know if I leave there with some momentum and a little bit of confidence, I’ll go to Kansas with that very same set-up and run well there, too. I haven’t been the best on mile-and-a-half tracks this year and in the past those have been our bread and butter. We’ve done some testing and are looking to improve our program on those types of race tracks.”

Do you look at Chicagoland as a cookie-cutter type of race track or does it have its own personality?

“I think every track has its own personality. When you hear people talk about cookie-cutter tracks, usually they’re talking about Chicago, Kansas, Las Vegas, those types of places. But, all of these mile-and-a-half tracks have their own unique characteristics. As close as Kansas and Chicago are and as close as the set-ups are, you don’t drive them the same but the same set-up does work.”