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Breaking Through: Bowyer’s first Nextel Cup victory comes at a most opportune time
By newsguy | September 18, 2007
By Mike Mulhern
JOURNAL REPORTER
LOUDON, N.H.
If anybody but Chevrolet is playing the Nextel Cup championship game this season, it’s hard to tell so far.
Clint Bowyer added his name to this year’s list of Chevy winners on Sunday with a decisive victory from the pole in the Sylvania 300, something sure to delight car owner Richard Childress when he gets back from his latest hunt.
For Bowyer, the route to the top echelon of stock-car racing has been surprisingly fast.
“Back in 2002, we were racing to maybe be able to make a living doing this,” Bowyer said. “When we started out it was just for fun. We were hobby racers, and we went to the track as a family and just had fun with it.
“Then we won two track championships and things really picked up. You realize ‘Man, we might be able to make something of this.’
“That’s the same thing with this (title Chase) - we went into it having fun, and to win the first race out, now all of a sudden the role has changed.”
It has been a great season for NASCAR newcomers - Bowyer is the fourth first-time winner, joining Casey Mears, Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Jimmie Johnson, whose sixth-place finish was good enough to keep him atop the Chase standings heading to Dover, Del., stated the obvious: “This was a race for second spot.
“But we have been in that situation before. When you get everything right, especially on a long haul, you can run away. At Richmond, when we won last week, we had a huge lead at the end. When things are right and you hit it right, you can make the other guys look pretty far off.”
Bowyer made his statement right from the start. Still, making it to the finish line was emotionally draining.
“There is so much emotion.… It was hard for me,” Bowyer said. “Even to have a shot.… And with three laps to go it was all I could do to keep my emotions intact.
“Kevin Harvick (his teammate) came on the radio and told Mike Dillon (running the operation during Childress’ absence) to tell me to slow down. That’s what teammates are all about.”
“If you are going to win your first one, man, this is the way and time to do it,” runner-up Jeff Gordon said. “That was pretty cool. Man, once he got that lead, wow, it was incredible.”
“Clint really has made a big step from last year, his rookie year,” said Tony Stewart, who finished third. “He has been in a couple of positions to get a win this year, only to have something happen.
“But this time there was nothing going to happen to him. He was rock-solid all day.”
Gordon, Stewart and Jeff Burton all made trips to congratulate Bowyer, and he was impressed.
“Those are your peers, those are the people you’ve looked up to, those are the guys you wanted to be like three or four years ago,” Bowyer said. ““I never would have dreamed I would be able to race against them. And to beat them, and have these guys roll into Victory Lane, was really gratifying.”
Bowyer can go home to Kansas Speedway next week as a new hero.
“Once you get in the Chase, you’ve got to go for broke … though last week I come up broke,” Bowyer joked. “But finally we did what we were supposed to do and didn’t make any mistakes. I didn’t make any in the car. Gil (Martin) called a perfect race. And the guys did perfect over-the-wall.
“Kurt Busch really hung with us for quite a while on that one run (then Busch had engine trouble). And when Tony got (only) two tires, he was able to stay out front for quite a while.
“There were some good cars, but on the long run we definitely prevailed.
“To start out the Chase with a win, and sitting on the pole, it says so much about our team. I’m proud of these guys. We’ve worked hard, we’ve been consistent, we did the things it took to be in this Chase. And I’ve got good teammates who have been coaching me all the way along.”
Topics: I know nothing about sports |
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