Catchfence

NOTES:

· This Week’s Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway …

Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 263 from the Richard Childress Racing stable. This is a brand-new Chevrolet Impala SS.

· Las Vegas Facts …

In three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bowyer boasts one top-15 finish. His best finish at the 1.5-mile oval came in March 2006 when the Emporia, Kan., native finished 15th. Bowyer fought an ill-handling Chevrolet Impala SS to a 28th-place finish when the circuit last visited the track in March 2008.

· Rearview Mirror …

Bowyer started 21st and finished 19th last week in the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California and enters Las Vegas sixth in NSCS points.

· What are the Odds …

According to Sportsbook.com Bowyer has a 60:1 chance to win the Shelby 427 on Sunday.

· Keep on Rolling …

Bowyer has been running at the end of every race dating back to Phoenix in November 2006, a streak of 75 races. He is now credited with having the longest current streak of running at the finish, taking over from RCR teammate Kevin Harvick, who failed to finish the Auto Club 500 last week and saw his streak end at 81 consecutive races without a DNF (did not finish).

· Four To Go …

RCR has earned a Sprint Cup Series victory at 18 of the 22 tracks on the 2009 schedule. The only tracks on the current schedule where RCR hasn’t earned wins are Auto Club Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. Additionally, RCR has Sprint Cup Series wins at 21 tracks overall, including North Wilkesboro (N.C.), Riverside (Calif.) and Rockingham (N.C.) which are no longer on the schedule.

· RCR in Vegas …

In 29 overall starts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, RCR cars have earned four top-five and nine top-10 finishes with four different drivers – Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Harvick and Mike Skinner. Harvick’s fourth-place run last March is RCR’s best effort at the mile-and-a-half oval.

· Homecoming …

While crew chief Shane Wilson isn’t exactly a native of Las Vegas, he is a former resident. Wilson lived in Sin City while working with driver Brendan Gaughan and Orleans Racing from 1999 to 2003. Wilson met his wife, Dana, at the speedway in 2001 when she worked there as public relations coordinator.

· Catch the Action …

The Shelby 427 will be televised live Sun., March 1 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the Shelby 427 will be televised live on SPEED Fri., Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. EST. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will carry qualifying updates live.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson won a bunch of races last year on the mile-and-a-half tracks, but for the most part Carl Edwards was the man to beat when you got to those tracks. Do you use him as a guidepost, something to shoot at?

“Well, Carl is definitely the guy to beat, but as the year progressed the other Roush cars were able to learn off of what he was doing. I try not to focus on one driver. I try to keep track of the organization as a whole, what they are doing. If they’re hitting on something, then yes – Carl is probably going to be the first guy to figure it out. If it’s Hendrick, it’s going to be Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. At RCR, it’s a crapshoot on which of us will be the first to hit on it. But, I always look at who’s picked it up first and then how the other drivers will follow. Last year, Jimmie Johnson was terrible at the start of the year on the mile-and-a-half tracks, but they figured it out and closed the year out strong. We need to be able to do that at RCR and that’s what we’re shooting for.”

You haven’t had the best finishes at Las Vegas – 15th, 36th and 28th. Statistically, it hasn’t been one of your best tracks.

 “It’s one of our worst tracks, really. I got in the wall early last year and that made for a long day. We just haven’t had the best of luck out there. Typically, if you run well in California, then you stick with what worked and bring it to Vegas. But, we’ve struggled a bit with that first California race as well, then shown up to Vegas with something completely different and been way out to lunch. Shane and I have been talking a lot about it and what we need to do to improve there, so we’re aiming to be on top of it this weekend. It’s a new team with the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper guys, so it’s a perfect time for a change in fortune.”

When the racetrack was re-configured, it was done so to make it a racier, more competitive place. How do you like it?

“I really like it. I like the fan zone area. It just fits Vegas. The fans get to go out there and see everything. We’re kind of like fish in a fishbowl. But, that allows the fans to see in a big way what we are doing. It’s a pretty cool deal for the fans to have that access.”

Everything is about gambling in Las Vegas, including when you’re in the race car. How much do you gamble behind the wheel? Do you take chances?

“I think I’m willing to roll the dice if necessary. If not, I see no need to step out of bounds and go for it. Usually, every week, there’s a time when you’ve got to do something that you’re not exactly comfortable with. You don’t know what the exact outcome of the situation will be, but you’ve got to roll the dice and do a little gambling from time to time, that’s for sure. I guess it all depends on what the pot is!”

SHANE WILSON QUOTE:

“We struggled last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, but we feel like it was a positive for us. California is the first real race of the season since we’re not running restrictor plates like we do at Daytona. It was the first opportunity for us to be in race conditions and experiment. We didn’t come out of there with the finish we wanted, but we did gain some useful information that will help us when we unload at Las Vegas.”

Richard Childress Racing, Press Release