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 Charlotte Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 333 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Chevrolet Impala saw action earlier this season when Bowyer scored a top-10 finish (seventh) at Auto Club Speedway.

Career All-Star Stats … Bowyer has two career appearances in NASCAR’s million-dollar event. In 2008, the four-time Sprint Cup Series winner started ninth and finished 18^th, and in his most recent appearance in 2009, he started 17^th and finished 12^th.

Sprint Showdown … The Emporia Kan., native also has three career starts in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a career-best finish of sixth coming in the 2007 qualifier. Last year, Bowyer finished 23^rd after being involved in an accident with six laps to go.

100 Laps, Four Segments … The Sprint All-Star Race format consists of four total segments, each separated by optional or mandatory pit stops. The race begins with a 50-lap segment followed by a caution flag for an optional pit stop. Segment 2 consists of another 20 laps and a caution flag for an optional pit stop. In Segment 3, drivers will race 20 laps followed by a 10-minute break where adjustments to the cars are permitted. A mandatory pit stop will conclude Segment 3 and set the field for the start of Segment 4. The race will finish with 10 laps to the checkered flag in which only green-flag laps count.

BB&T Colors … For the final time this season, Bowyer’s Chevrolet Impala will sport the maroon and yellow paint scheme of BB&T. 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.

The Monster Mile … Bowyer and the No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet team led 29 laps en route to their sixth top-10 finish in the last seven races, finishing sixth in the FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway after starting from the 22^nd position.

Points Racing … Bowyer gained a spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings after the top-10 finish in Dover. He now sits eighth in points, 80 markers out of first.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

How do you view the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race? Is it still a big deal to you?

“It’s a big deal, but just another race. In this sport, things are so important now. If I’m running second and there’s a green-white-checkered restart, my opinion about that race has changed. Until then, I treat it like it’s just another race. It pays more money, obviously, and the hype and everything is big. It’s not like our teams or us as drivers can pick up the pace and go faster because it’s more money. Yeah, there are no points, so you can take more gambles and take risks you wouldn’t normally take. Aside from that, it’s just another race.”

Along the same lines, would you do something out of character to win it?

“It depends on the situation. Like I said, if you’re running second with a green-white-checkered restart, it definitely changes the whole aspect of everything.”

In this day in age, is winning one million dollars still a big deal?

“Oh, hell yeah! Winning one million dollars is always going to be a big deal.”

What do you think of the format of the All-Star Race?

“It’s good. There’s a lot that happens throughout that race. If you’re in the back, it could possibly set you up to be in position. If you just ran the race straight through, it would be the first four or fives guys that were up front that would win.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release