Clint Bowyer and the #33 Cheerios Hamburger Helper Chevrolet

Hello, friends and fans! I hope everyone had a great holiday and is revved up for the new year and racing season. I know I’m ready to put 2009 behind me and start with a clean slate. Missing the Chase was tough, but when I think back to this time last year, and all of the uncertainty surrounding our new team I think we beat expectations. We led laps and finished the year strong so I’m confident we’ll have a stellar 2010 season. Before we get into racing I wanted to share some things I was able to do over the off-season.

Hunting is a hobby I picked up shortly after moving to North Carolina. Most of my friends hunted when I was in High School, but I was always too busy working on my dirt car to go. Meeting Richard changed all of that! I’ve been hooked since he took me on my first hunt four years ago, and I had my best hunt yet this winter. My buddy, Dave Holland, back in Emporia, Kan., set my buddy Zack Peak and myself up on a three day hunt in the “Flint Hills” of Kansas. We hunted in blinds and tree stands and rode horses scout out the sections. I ended up with a beautiful nine-point buck that scored 170 and he just might be my favorite trophy of the year!

A lot of cool things happened while I was home for the holidays. The Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce decided to dedicate a street to me and that was special. My parent’stowing business, Flint Hills Towing, is on Graham Street and that’s where my dirt car shop was. The city added a sign above Graham Street that says Clint Bowyer Boulevard.  Graham Street isn’t the nicest, busiest or longest street in the city, but it’s the only street I’d ever want my name to be a part of.

Christmas ended up being one of the most exciting I can remember. My family had a $25 gift exchange thing that was hilarious, then we opened up our other presents. Christmas is also my Grandpa’s birthday and he seemed to do better than he had in years past. We listened to old country music and he can still sing every word of the songs. Then, the fun ended. Emporia was hit with the biggest winter storm in decades. We had 20mph-plus winds that pushed the snow into four-foot drifts and there were people stuck in the ditch everywhere. The wrecker phone started ringing so I loaded up with Pops and we started pulling people out! I tell you what, standing waist deep in the ditch pulling cable down to stuck cars will make a man out of you. We decided to call it off around 4:30 a.m., and although it was tough, it felt good to work hard alongside Pops. Nights like those are the reason I made it to the Cup Series. That’s the truth.

I also had a special New Years. We loaded up 20 friends and relatives in a tour bus and drove from Emporia to Breckenridge, Colo., for a ski trip. I drove the whole way there and back and we had a really good time in between the long drives. I thought it was pretty cool to have 20 pals that all got along the whole trip. The funniest part of the vacation was watching my brother Andy pick up his goggles, poles, and skis after his crashes! He has the “fast” part down, but he needs to learn how to turn. Haha!

A 10-hour drive might not sound like a lot of fun, but I enjoyed it. These days I scan the tree line looking for deer and I saw dozens along the way. But, most of the time I thought about how I can be a better driver in 2010. I thought about dozens of little things I’ve learned in my career that I can build on. I’ll never be content with just running well, I owe it to RCR and myself to win races. I thought about winning races a lot on that drive.

I’ve been visiting the Cup shop since we’ve returned home and everyone has their nose to the grindstone on the new season. People always say, “We’ve been working hard,” so I don’t want to say that’s what they’re doing. They’re doing more than working hard, they’re working to win races. That’s a different kind of hard work.

Till Daytona gets here, we’re busy working on our dirt cars here at Clint Bowyer Racing. Dale McDowell’s new Dirt Late models are coming together, and I’ve been picking away on my new dirt modified I’m going to race at Volusia. 

I want to thank all of you fans for being so dedicated. I also want to thank General Mills and BB&T, and all of my great sponsors for not just being the best sponsors, but true friends. 

-Clint Bowyer #33