Catchfence

Clint Bowyer - Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images for NASCAR

No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s BB&T Chevrolet at Talladega Superspeedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 294 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This No. 33 Chevrolet Impala has significant restrictor-plate track success, including a top-five finish (fourth) in the 2010 Daytona 500 and a trip to Victory Lane in last October’s Talladega 500 after starting from the front row.

Career Talladega Stats … The Aaron’s 499 marks Bowyer’s 189^th NSCS start.

• In 10 NSCS starts at Talladega, Bowyer owns one win, two top-five and four top-10 finishes.

• He has completed 78.2 percent (1,487 of 1,901) of the total laps contested at TSS during his career.

• The Emporia, Kan., native has led 25 laps at the 2.66-mile oval.

• Bowyer owns a 22.2 average starting position and a 19.4 average finishing position.

BB&T Colors … Bowyer’s Chevrolet Impala will sport the maroon and yellow paint scheme of BB&T this weekend. The Winston-Salem, N.C., corporation has 35 bank branches located within 60 miles of Talladega Superspeedway.

Site of First NASCAR Pole … In just his third career start, Bowyer earned his first career NASCAR pole award for the April 2004 running of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Talladega.

Winner, Winner … Bowyer and RCR teammate Kevin Harvick finished 1-2 in last October’s Talladega 500. The trip to Victory Lane with Bowyer gave car owner Richard Childress his 11^th victory at Talladega, the most by any car owner at the track. Bowyer led nine times for 19 laps on the way to his fourth career NSCS victory.

Top-Five in The Lone Star State … Bowyer and the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet team, riding momentum from two straight top-10 finishes, led 44 laps en route to a second-place result in the Samsung Mobile 500 under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway.

Points Racing … After his third top-10 finish in as many weeks, Bowyer jumped four more positions, to 12^th, in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

You won in Talladega the last race in October. Are you pumped to go back?

“Yeah, I am. We were really, really fast in Daytona, and basically, got destroyed there at the end. Our cars and engines are really good. I look forward to getting to Talladega and having a chance at winning. That’s what it’s all about when you go to a race track. It’s such a good feeling. It’s now up to us to make it happen.”

Do you ever rag on Harvick about beating him by a couple inches there?

“No, not really. It just came down to the wire. When you’re sitting in the equipment that we get to sit in at those superspeedways, it doesn’t surprise me that I was racing a teammate for the win.”

That was kind of a weird ending to that race. What were you thinking when the yellow light came on? Did you think you had it won?

“I really did think when the caution came out that I was ahead of him, and I was. I didn’t know it was that close, but I really did think that I won.”

Do you have to be more lucky than good to stay out of trouble at Talladega?

“Not really. You have to be conscious of your surroundings. You can’t put yourself in a bad situation. If they’re racing hard in front of you and you don’t think you should be around, get out of there! Get out of it and just don’t stay there and hope it’s going to change because nine times out of 10, that’s when it’s going to bite you.”

So, you have to have like a spider sense that something’s about to happen?

“Well, usually it’s pretty apparent when things are going to happen believe it or not. There might be someone up there that’s not used to being up there and they are racing pretty wild and erratic. That’s the thing, you get used to racing around people. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 20^th place team or a top-10 team. You get used to racing around those people. You get comfortable. It’s when those two collide and are racing against one another. That’s when things happen. I hate to say that, but that’s how it is.”

Have you ever been in the situation when that spider sense says ‘alright, this is trouble, I have to get out of here,’ and there’s no place to go?

“That’s usually when you get wrecked. You realize you’re in a bad situation, but you might be three-wide, three deep and there’s nothing you can do and nowhere to go.”

Do you feel like Daytona sets you up for Talladega?

“I think it definitely does. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do, body work and stuff like that, but we’ll be alright.”

You led 31 laps at Daytona. Was it disappointing to not get something more out of that?

“Absolutely. Anytime you run up front as much as we did, we had a shot to win that thing. We really did, with four laps to go; we were one of the six cars in the hunt. We just got wiped out.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release