Catchfence

No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet

Race Notes and Quotes

This Week’s Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot chassis No. 368 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This is a brand new No. 33 Chevrolet Impala that will turn its first laps during opening practice on Friday at the Brickyard.

Career Indianapolis Stats … This weekend’s 400 miler marks Bowyer’s 201^st career NSCS start.

• In five NSCS starts at Indy, Bowyer owns two top-five and two top-10 finishes, posting his best finish of fourth twice – once in the 2006 event and the other coming in last year’s edition of the 160-lap event.
• Bowyer has completed every single lap (800 of 800) contested at the Speedway. Ind.-based track during his career.
• The Emporia, Kan., native has yet to lead a lap at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
• Bowyer owns a 16.8 average starting position and an average finishing position of 11.6.

Red and Yellow … The familiar Cheerios/Hamburger Helper paint scheme will return to Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevrolet this weekend in the 18^th edition of the Brickyard 400.

Winner’s Circle … As a part of NASCAR’s commitment to promote ticket sales at every track on the 2011 schedule, Bowyer will travel to Pocono Raceway on Wednesday and Michigan International Speedway on Thursday to promote the upcoming August NSCS race weekends at those two facilities. At Pocono on Wednesday, Bowyer will give ride-alongs to media members, take part in a fan Q&A session in Victory Lane at 3 p.m. and start taking ticket orders at 3:45 p.m. in the Pocono ticket office. The next day at Thousand Oaks Golf Club in Grand Rapids, Mich. after media availability, Bowyer will participate in a 12:15 p.m. Q&A session with MIS President Roger Curtis and golf with Pure Michigan 400 ticketholders and VIP guests.

Supermarket Sweep … Bowyer and NASCAR/IndyCar driver John Andretti will sign autographs and take part in a Supermarket Sweep-type competition at the Kroger grocery store located at 8150 Rockville Road in Indianapolis on Thursday, July 28 from 5-6:30 p.m. Both drivers will guide shopping carts for two winners (selected via a random on-site drawing) in a 2:33 shopping spree collecting General Mills products which the winners will be able to take home with them. Kroger will then donate the value of the groceries collected to the Riley Hospital while General Mills will match the dollar amount and make a donation as part of the Kroger Race for Riley presented by Cheerios. Wristbands will be handed out at 4 p.m. to the first 300 fans.

Chevy Day at the Brickyard … Bowyer will join all Team Chevy drivers on Friday, July 29 for Chevy Day at the Brickyard. Some fan-friendly activities that the four-time Sprint Cup Series race winner will be participating in include an autograph session from 11:05-11:35 a.m. and a Q&A session from 11:45 a.m.-Noon on the Chevy Stage, located near the Hall of Fame Museum in turn two.

Bring a Sharpie … On Saturday, July 30, Bowyer will take part in the largest autograph session of the 2011 NSCS season in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield Pavilion Room 1C, located adjacent to the Pagoda Plaza at 12:00 p.m. The session is exclusive to Brickyard 400 presented by Big Machine Records.com Race Day ticketholders and wristband distribution starts at 9 a.m. in the Pagoda Plaza. More information can be found at http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

The Magic Mile … After a solid 12^th-place qualifying effort, Bowyer and the No. 33 Good Sam Club Chevrolet team brought home a 17^th-place finish in the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Points Racing … Bowyer remains 12^th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, 28 points out of the top 10.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

What do you think about Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

“It’s a lot of fun to be able to go to Indy. It means a lot to everyone to have the chance to race on that track with so much history behind it. We have to get better at that place. Our first run there was very good, but since then, we’ve been mediocre. We have to get ourselves back to running well on those kinds of race tracks. With that being said, I think we’re bringing a new car there. We’ve tried to put some things together that I think will be the latest and greatest. We’re hoping to get the best result out of it.”

Is Indianapolis still a big deal to you? It seems like anyone out in the Midwest would think it would be cool to be able to run at Indy some day.

“Absolutely, Indy is a big deal. In the sport of auto racing, Indy is one of the biggest deals out there. I think that the Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year and Indy is the second biggest race of the year.”

The cool thing about Indy is the frontstretch because there are fans on both sides. What do you think about that?

“Well Jeff Burton and I sat on the front row the first year I was there. It was a great feeling to be able to lead the field down through there into a sea of people. It’s just an unbelievable sight to see and to be able to soak that all in is a pretty cool feeling.”

You’ve seen the replays of what happened on the last lap of the Indianapolis 500. If you have the lead on the last lap, do you think you would be able to keep your concentration?

“If I have that big of a lead I’m lifting going into the corners. I’m going to make sure that I get back around there, I can promise you that. The biggest mistakes you learn from can be yours or someone else’s. Unfortunately, through his mistake, I think everyone learned from it. I don’t think anyone would make that mistake again. Putting yourself in his shoes, you just feel horrible for him.”

- Richard Childress Racing, Press Release