Catchfence

2009 NSCS Clint Bowyer - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

· This Week’s Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 267 from the Richard Childress Racing stable. This Chevrolet Impala SS debuted in February at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. where Bowyer started 21st and finished 19th.

· Stat Facts …

o Texas Facts … In six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Bowyer boasts two top-five and three top-10 finishes. His best finish is fourth, which came when the NSCS raced at TMS last November. The Emporia, Kan., native has completed all but four laps of competition at the 1.5-mile oval and has an average finish of 12.2.

o Rearview Mirror … Bowyer started third and finished fifth at Martinsville Speedway last week. It was the first top-five finish of his career at the .526-mile oval.

o Color Change … The No. 33 Chevrolet will feature its familiar red and yellow paint scheme as Cheerios/Hamburger Helper returns to its primary sponsorship role at Texas.

o Starting Out Strong … In his fourth season of full-time NSCS competition, Bowyer is off to the strongest start of his brief career. In the six races held thus far in 2009, Bowyer has accumulated three top-five and four top-10 finishes, and an average finish of 8.2. He is currently ranked second in the championship point standings, 89 markers behind leader Jeff Gordon.

o Keep on Rolling … Bowyer has been running at the end of every race dating back to Phoenix in November 2006, a streak of 79 races. He is two races shy of tying the current modern era record of 81 races without a DNF (did not finish), held by RCR teammate Kevin Harvick. The all-time record is held by Herman Beam, who did not run his races consecutively but did make 84 starts from 1961-1963 without recording a DNF.

o Former Winner … While Bowyer has not yet won at Texas in NSCS competition, he has visited Victory Lane there once before. Driving the No. 46 Chevrolet for David Dollar in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Bowyer won the Silverado 350K from the pole in 2006.

o Meet the Helping Hands … The No. 33 over-the-wall crew will be signing autographs Sun., April 5 from approximately 10:00-10:20 a.m. at the Chevrolet display, located in the TMS midway.

o Meet the Driver … Fans can meet Bowyer on Fri., April 3 from 5-6 p.m. at Brookshire’s campground store located on the grounds of TMS. Bowyer will also make an appearance on Sun., April 5 at the Prilosec OTC BBQ Shootout Series display, located in the display area at TMS. He will participate in a Q&A session from 10:45-11:00 a.m.

-more-

o Media Availability … Bowyer will be available inside Texas Motor Speedway’s infield media center to field questions from the gathered press on Fri., April 3 at 11:30 a.m.

o RCR at TMS … In 43 starts at TMS dating back to 1997, RCR has recorded one win, five top-five and 16 top-10 finishes with drivers Jeff Burton, Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Harvick and Jeff Green. Prior to TMS’s inaugural season, Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, earned a pair of top 10s while he was still behind the wheel at the now defunct Texas World Speedway in College Station.

· Happy Birthday … Rear tire carrier Erik Pringle will celebrate his 25th birthday on Thurs., April 2. Shock specialist Michael Hodges will celebrate his 26th birthday on Tues., April 7.

· Catch the Action … The Samsung 500 will be televised live Sun., April 5 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX and broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the seventh of 36 races on the 2009 schedule will be televised live on SPEED Fri., April 3 at 4:30 p.m. EDT. PRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will carry qualifying updates live.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

You seem like you’re getting much more comfortable at Texas. You had a 10th-place finish in the spring and backed that up with a fourth-place finish in the fall.

“Texas is a track where as it ages and we move around you’ve got more options, and those options seem to be more fitting for me. We’ve had good runs at Texas in the past, we’ve just struggled to get the finishes that we deserved. Last year we finally got the finish to show for it. We led laps in the fall race and looked like we had a shot to win it, but we fell a little short. It’s a track I really look forward to getting to.”

You led 36 laps in the fall. At some point did you think you might have a shot at it?

“It turned into a fuel mileage race at the end. It looked like we might be able to go the distance but we had to come to pit road for fuel in the closing stages of the race. Carl Edwards was able to stay out and that’s what won him the race. It was a strong showing for us on that day, we were definitely in contention for it.”

Unlike Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Texas hasn’t been paved in some time. Does that open it up? Is it a racier track because of that?

“I think so. We’ve got more options now than we did in the past. It seems like that’s played into my favor some and we’ve been able to have strong runs because of that. We’ve been good on the mile-and-a-half tracks so far this season, and I look forward to building on that this weekend at Texas in the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet.”

SHANE WILSON QUOTE:

What about Texas makes it unique to you as a crew chief?

“It’s still a cookie cutter mile-and-a-half track, so if you’ve got a good package on that style track then you should run well at Texas. I love going to Texas, and we’ve got a driver that is very comfortable there. Clint’s had some success there and we’ve run fairly well so far this season on similar tracks. The tracks vary because of the tires that Goodyear brings to each of them, and we know we need to get better with the style of tire that we’ll have this weekend.”