Catchfence

Clint Bowyer in car - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s BB&T Chevrolet at Martinsville Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 340 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevrolet Impala was utilized last month at Phoenix International Raceway where the No. 33 team finished 27^th after being involved in a 13-car pileup on lap-68.

Career Martinsville Stats … The Goody’s Fast Relief 500 marks Bowyer’s 187^th NSCS start.

• In 10 NSCS starts at Martinsville, Bowyer owns one top-five and five top-10 finishes.
• He has completed 97.1 percent (4,874 of 5,019) of the total laps contested at MVS during his career.
• The Emporia, Kan., native has not led a lap yet at MVS.
• Bowyer owns an 18.9 average starting position and a 15.3 average finishing position.
• His best effort at the Virginia facility is a fifth-place finish that he recorded in the spring race of 2009.

Maroon and Yellow … The No. 33 Chevrolet will sport a different paint scheme this weekend as longtime RCR partner, BB&T, adorns the car. Bowyer last ran the maroon and yellow paint scheme two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Jeff Byrd 500.

Back on Track … Bowyer and the No. 33 Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Centennial Celebration Chevrolet team bounced back from a rough weekend in Bristol with a solid seventh-place finish in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway after starting from the 17^th position.

Points Racing … After the strong finish in Fontana, Bowyer jumped seven positions, to 17^th, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

In the last seven races at Martinsville Speedway, you have had five top-10 finishes. You must feel like you guys are closing in on something pretty big there?

“Yeah, I’ve gotten a lot better at Martinsville. I needed to. It was one track that I was terrible at when I first started. You must have a lot of discipline at that facility and there are a lot of things that you do different at a track like that. It was a big learning curve for me. We practiced and worked hard at it. I feel I’ve come a long way and our equipment has also come a long way at Martinsville. Jeff (Burton) had the car to beat down there last spring.

RCR has always had a good short track program, except for Martinsville. Does that surprise you at all?

“It did when I first came here. We run well on the short tracks. Whether it’s our driving styles, our equipment or what we do as a package collectively. It did surprise me a little bit when I first came to Martinsville. I had my head full of confidence and was thinking, ‘we’re going to go out there and do something good’ and was terrible. My first time there, I was really bad. That little Rockingham track that they built was kind of a test track and is very similar to Martinsville so we’ve spent a lot of time there and learned a lot, both me as a driver, and the team figuring out the equipment we needed on the car to be competitive.”

Martinsville Speedway has kind of been a personal playground for Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin. Have you been like, ‘what the heck, we’re running well…’?

“That’s Denny’s country. He’s raced there a bunch growing up. Jimmie is kind of like Jeff Gordon and Jeff was great there before Jimmie came along. You know, don’t forget about Jeff either. Your driving style has to fit that kind of track and you must have good equipment. You have to work hard at the setups and provide information to your team. I think Denny has done a good job of getting a package that he needs there to go out, lead laps and win the race. Certainly, Jimmie has found the same.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release