Clint Bowyer
Clinton Aaron Bowyer is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for NASCAR on Fox. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports.
He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight years, Michael Waltrip Racing for four years, HScott Motorsports for one year, and Stewart–Haas Racing for four years. Bowyer won the 2008 Nationwide Series championship driving for RCR. Following the 2020 season, Bowyer retired from full-time racing and became an analyst for Fox Sports' NASCAR coverage.
Early career
Bowyer began racing at the age of five in motocross. He went on to capture over two hundred wins and numerous championships over the next eight years. In 1996, he began racing street stocks at Thunderhill Speedway in Mayetta, Kansas, and there won the Modified championship in 2000. Bowyer racked up eighteen wins and 32 top-five finishes on his way to capturing the 2001 Modified championships at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, and Heartland Park Topeka. In 2002, he began racing in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, posting nine poles, twelve wins, and 32 top-five finishes en route to a second-place finish in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series national point standings. He was also crowned the 2002 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Midwest Champion after another Modified championship at Lakeside Speedway and a Late Model championship at the famed I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Missouri, his first attempt at racing on asphalt.In 2003, Bowyer raced a full season in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Midwest Series, scoring one top-ten finish in eleven starts. He also would make his first ARCA starts in 2003 and caught the eye of legendary car owner Richard Childress after leading 47 laps and finishing second in his debut at Nashville Superspeedway, driving for Scott Traylor out of Kansas City.
After the second-place finish, Childress called Bowyer by phone and offered him a job. A flabbergasted Bowyer thought he was joking and hung up on him. Childress called back soon afterward and with a not-too-happy tone he still offered the job to Bowyer.
NASCAR career
2004
In 2004, Bowyer began by finishing eighth in the ARCA Re/Max Series race at Daytona in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Scott Traylor. In 2004, Bowyer began running in the Busch Series for Childress, sharing seat time in the No. 21 Reese's -sponsored Chevrolet with veteran Kevin Harvick. He drove in half of the 34 Busch Series races that year, winning one pole at Talladega and seven top-tens, attaining a season-high third place finish in the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway in June. He also ran three races for Kevin Harvick Incorporated with help from Andy Petree Racing driving the No. 33 Chevrolet sponsored by Monaco Coaches and Snap-on. Bowyer made two starts for Bill McAnally Racing in the Camping World West Series in the No. 20 Chevrolet. In his two starts at Phoenix and Auto Club Speedway, he won one pole and had a best finish of second.2005–2006
Bowyer's first full Busch season was in 2005, replacing Ron Hornaday in the No. 2 ACDelco-sponsored Chevrolet. He won two poles and two races en route to a second-place finish to repeat as champion Martin Truex Jr., losing by only 68 points. He also made his Nextel Cup debut in the No. 33 Sylvania-sponsored Chevy on April 23, 2005, during the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. He finished 22nd as the first car one lap down. Richard Childress Racing announced on October 15, 2005, that Bowyer would race the No. 07 Jack Daniel's-sponsored Chevrolet full-time in the Nextel Cup series, replacing Dave Blaney for the 2006 season.Bowyer began his rookie Cup season with three top-five finishes and had a total of eleven top-tens that season, with his best finish being a third at California Speedway. He finished 68 points behind Denny Hamlin for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. Bowyer also continued to drive the No. 2 in the Busch Series full-time, winning once and finishing third in points. Bowyer won his first Craftsman Truck Series race in the No. 46 Chevrolet Silverado fielded by Morgan-Dollar Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway on November 3, 2006, in his third career Truck start, making his first CTS start that year at Martinsville for Green Light Racing.
2007
After dramatically starting the 2007 season with a last-lap crash at Daytona, Bowyer won the Budweiser Pole position for the Dodge Avenger 500 at Darlington Raceway. He finished the regular season ninth in points but was seeded twelfth for the playoff since race wins determine playoff seeding. Bowyer won his second pole at the Sylvania 300 at Loudon, and two days later went on to win his first Nextel Cup race in his 64th start. The win made Bowyer the fifteenth driver to win at least one race in all three of NASCAR's top series.For the 2007 Busch season, Bowyer ran a partial Busch Series schedule in the RCR No. 2 car. On April 20, 2007, he won the Busch Series Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. He followed that up with another Busch Series win on May 4, 2007, in the Circuit City 250 at Richmond International Raceway. Bowyer also ran select races for Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
2008
In 2008, Bowyer continued to drive in the Cup and Nationwide Series full-time. Bowyer dominated the late stages of the Daytona 500 but was spun out by Juan Pablo Montoya with seventeen laps remaining. On May 3, 2008, Bowyer earned his second Sprint Cup victory, winning the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Speedway. Bowyer led only two laps, going to the front after Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch got together with less than four laps remaining in the race.On August 23, 2008, Bowyer was announced as the driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Impala SS for RCR. Casey Mears from Hendrick Motorsports replaced Bowyer in the Jack Daniel's-sponsored car. This move was necessitated by a sponsor's request, as General Mills did not want Mears, who had been driving in the 2008 season for rival cereal maker Kellogg's, representing them, so Childress sponsors General Mills and Brown-Forman Corporation agreed to the swap so Bowyer, who drove for Brown-Forman, would drive for General Mills, and Mears could drive for Brown-Forman, as they had no problems with Mears representing the company.
On November 15, 2008, Bowyer clinched the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a narrow margin of victory over Carl Edwards of 21 points. Edwards won the race with Bowyer finishing 5th.
2009: No. 33 car
Bowyer concentrated primarily on the Sprint Cup Series in 2009 and drove the No. 33 Chevrolet Impala to 15th place in the season standings. Bowyer trimmed his participation in the Nationwide Series to twelve races but performed well, winning at Daytona and Dover, finishing in the top-five in six of the twelve races, and notching eight top-tens.Bowyer started the Cup season in strong fashion, finishing fourth in the Daytona 500 and second at Las Vegas in the third race of the year. With a sixth in Atlanta and a fifth in Martinsville, Bowyer was second in the overall standings after six races.
A tough stretch in races seven through twelve dropped Bowyer down to seventeenth overall, 109 points behind Mark Martin in 12th place. After a much more consistent run in races 13-23, Bowyer had climbed up to fourteenth overall, within 58 points of twelfth place. Finishing in the top fifteen in eight of eleven races helped him make up 51 points on the 12th-place position.
A 21st-place finish the following week at Bristol really hurt Bowyer's chance at the Chase, dropping him 112 points behind Matt Kenseth in twelfth with just two races prior to the Chase. It was the 25th race that sealed Bowyer's fate, as a spin on lap 309 cost him two laps and the chance to compete in the Chase.
While his chances at the Chase were over, Bowyer finished the season as he started it, with five top-tens and nine top-fifteens in the last eleven races. His top finish was the sixth-place run at Charlotte in the Scary Fast Count Chocula paintout. Overall, Bowyer finished the 2009 Sprint Cup Series in fifteenth place.
2010
True to form, Bowyer performed well early in 2010, finishing fourth in Daytona, seventh at Martinsville, and ninth at Phoenix to stand sixth after seven races. However, at Texas in the Samsung Mobile 500, Bowyer got caught in a major crash on lap 317 that wiped out eight other drivers and caused a 19-minute red flag race stoppage. The resulting 36th-place finish dropped Bowyer to 14th position overall, only one point behind 12th-place Joey Logano. Seventh- and twelfth place finishes at Talladega and Richmond put Bowyer back into twelfth place after ten races.The 11th race run at Darlington promised to be special. Bowyer ran the new The Hartford Racing paint out as part of The Hartford's 200th anniversary celebration. As part of Fox's coverage, Bowyer was one of four cars with an in-car camera for the race. However, 101 laps into the race, Bowyer went to the pits and ultimately the garage, with brake issues. After a second long stop to correct, Bowyer finished in 32nd position, 36 laps down.
Bowyer ran well again in races 12 through 14, like seventeenth, seventh, and ninth place finishes allowed him to move back up into 12th-place overall. In race 13, Bowyer led lap 217 following a caution for debris. Kurt Busch passed Bowyer on the following lap and went on to win the race.
In races 15–17, Bowyer finished 22nd at Michigan, 31st at Sonoma, and seventh at Loudon, NH. Despite the poor finish, Bowyer was very competitive at Sonoma. He led lap eighty and was in seventh place with eleven laps to go. But on lap 100, Elliott Sadler got bumped by Jeff Gordon and spun Bowyer, dropping him all the way back to 34th place.
Bowyer had one of his strongest runs of the year in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, leading seventeen of the final 21 laps. Unfortunately, on the final Green-White restart, Bowyer got split by Jeff Gordon, lost the lead, fell back in the pack, and ultimately spun. In finishing seventeenth, Bowyer fell 49 points behind twelfth place Carl Edwards.
In race 19 at Chicagoland, Bowyer ran well all night, finishing fourth and moving up into twelfth place in the overall standings. He started 15th but moved up quickly, running in the top ten for the first half and then in the top five for most of the latter half of the race, battling Jeff Gordon for the lead with less than forty laps to go.
In the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Bowyer started second and led the most laps before fading back into the Top 5. Taking the white flag in the second position, he suddenly witnessed then-leader Tony Stewart run out of fuel, giving Bowyer the third win of his Sprint Cup career and vaulting him to second in the Chase standings behind Denny Hamlin. However, this was negated during post-race inspection at NASCAR's R&D center. Reports surfaced that Bowyer's car, used at Richmond, had come close to failing inspection. NASCAR announced on September 22 that it had issued fines and penalties to the No. 33 team after failing a secondary inspection. Most critically, crew chief Shane Wilson was suspended for the next 6 races, and both Bowyer and car owner Richard Childress faced $150,000 in fines and the loss of 150 championship points. The penalty dropped Bowyer back to 12th in points, 185 points behind Denny Hamlin. Childress appealed the decision, which reduced the suspensions to four races and $100,000, but the 150-point deduction was upheld.
During the Pepsi Max 400 weekend at Fontana, Bowyer and fellow Childress driver Austin Dillon taped an episode of The Price Is Right that was scheduled to feature NASCAR-themed Showcases and aired on November 15, 2010. Bowyer finished second to Tony Stewart in the race.
Bowyer barely edged teammate Kevin Harvick for the victory in the fall Talladega race, the AMP Energy Juice 500. The race ended with the leaders in turn one when a caution was displayed for a large wreck on the front straightaway on the final lap.
Bowyer finished tenth in the final Chase standings, earning him a spot on stage at the season-ending Awards Banquet.