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 Dover International Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 310 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevrolet Impala saw action earlier this season when Bowyer finished 35^th at Bristol Motor Speedway after suffering engine failure from damage to the grill in an accident on lap 436.

Career Dover Stats … The FedEx 400 marks Bowyer’s 192^nd NSCS start.

In 10 NSCS starts at Dover, Bowyer owns three top-10 finishes, which were all eighth-place efforts (Sept 2006, June 2007 and Sept 2008).

He has completed 99.4% of the laps (3,976 of 4,000) contested at “The Monster Mile” during his career.

The Emporia, Kan., native has led four laps at the one-mile facility.

Bowyer owns a 19.1 average starting position and an average finishing position of 15.1.

Two-Time Winner … The 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion visited Dover’s Victory Lane twice while running in NASCAR’s junior circuit. Both wins came on the same date, September 26, three years apart from one another, in 2006 and 2009.

BB&T Colors … Bowyer’s Chevrolet Impala will sport the maroon and yellow paint scheme of BB&T this weekend. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the company operates approximately 1,800 financial centers in 12 states and Washington, D.C., and offers a full range of consumer and commercial banking, securities brokerage, asset management, mortgage and insurance products, and services.

Last Time in Dover … After starting 24^th, Bowyer and the No. 33 team brought home a 25^th-place finish in last year’s September event during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

In the Loop … Over the first ten points-paying races of the 2011 NSCS season, Bowyer has accumulated an impressive resume of loop data statistics. Heading into this weekend’s 400 miler, he is the series’ best Quality Passer with 909 passes while running in the top 15 under green-flag conditions. The four time Sprint Cup Series race winner also ranks second with an Average Running Position of 11.39 and is the second Fastest Driver in an Early Run (5.85). He currently stands third in Driver Rating with a 97.0, in Green Flag Speed (8.14) and third in Miles Led (309.45). Bowyer’s 224 laps led and 67.9 percent of Contested Laps Running in the Top 15 (2,225 of 3,279) place him fourth. Other notable loop data stats include: seventh in Percentage of Laps Ran on Lead Lap and Fastest Drivers Late in Run and 10^th in Fastest Speed in Traffic and Fastest Laps Ran.

The Lady in Black … After being involved in an accident with five laps to go, Bowyer and the No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet team finished 31^st in the SHOWTIME Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Bowyer spent 307 of the 363 laps that he completed running in the top 15.

Points Racing … Bowyer dropped two positions, to ninth, in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings after his 31^st-place finish in Darlington.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

Dover falls in the month of May. You referred to May as a month that hasn’t been very good to you. Is Dover the same kind of thing as Darlington?

“Dover is actually a good track for me. I love Dover and run well there. We’ve practiced, qualified and raced well, yet don’t always finish well. That’s what we need to work on, is getting that strong finish. We’re hit or miss on race day. There will be runs when we’re lightning fast, but there are other runs that we’re going a lap down. It’s always one of those tracks that we come back in the fall and have a good finish after learning from the spring event. We need to be able to capitalize on that and get a good run here in the spring race.”

Some guys hate the corner one entry, others seem to deal with fuel issues and spin their tires up off of turn two. What is the toughest thing for you at Dover, or what do you guard against as far as tricks there?

“The toughest part is getting your car to do what you want it to do. I have won two Nationwide Series races there so I’ve had success. I love that race track, but the hardest thing is getting these Sprint Cup cars to do what you want them to do. They don’t want to do that sometimes (laughs).”

You can sling a dirt car around as well as anyone. You can run 500 miles around a place like Daytona in the middle of July. Is Dover a real physical test?

“It is. It’s a bigger Bristol and I would definitely say that Bristol is a physical test. Dover is just a bigger, faster, meaner Bristol.”

Is pit road any better there at Dover? Does it feel wider?

“It definitely feels wider. It’s without a doubt wider. The pit stalls are still very short. Dover is just one of those places where it’s a short track, but it’s also a mile long.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release