Clint Bowyer hopes to end dubious NASCAR streak at his home track in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The number stares Clint Bowyer right in the face: 159.
That’s how many consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts Bowyer has made without winning, the second-longest drought among Cup regulars to Paul Menard’s 206 starts.
To be sure, extenuating circumstances contributed to Bowyer’s dry spell. He weathered the Michael Waltrip Racing scandal in 2013 and drove for low-budget HScott Motorsports in 2016 before replacing Tony Stewart in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Ford this year.
That’s why the high-spirited Bowyer, who has eight career wins, doesn't let the streak bother him as he heads into Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1) at his home track, Kansas Speedway. The 1.5-mile oval sits about 100 miles northeast from his boyhood home of Emporia, Kan.
“You don’t even think about that,” said Bowyer, whose last win came at the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2012, his first of four seasons at now-defunct MWR. “You think about winning. I never think about how long it has been. I think about how you are going to get it done.”
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Bowyer, 37, has contended for some wins this season, including a third-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and second at Bristol Motor Speedway. His consistency has Bowyer ninth in the points standings, adding to his belief he’ll return to the 16-driver playoffs after a year’s absence.
“Do I think we are going to make the playoffs?” Bowyer said Friday. “Yes. I am not saying that arrogantly or to be cocky, I just feel like we are a team that is going to be in that, one way, shape or form. Whether we race our way in or win our way in. I feel we are capable of doing either.
“We are knocking on the door. We aren’t knocking enough but last week (at Talladega Superspeedway), we led some laps and showed potential again. It takes the total package. You have to put it together. It all starts with consistency, running up front on a consistent manner week in and week out.
"We have a good baseline established, and that is with no notes or nothing to work with. No experience with one another. No communication. We are learning all those things and you can see it getting better each week. Where you get excited is going back to these tracks a second time and having a notebook established and line of communication down where you know what to expect and capitalize and better your position. Some of those races, better would be a win.”
Bowyer's best finish in 17 starts here is runner-up in 2007.
Bowyer would love nothing better than to end his winless streak on Mother’s Day weekend. Plenty of friends and family, including his parents, will be on hand from Emporia, the site of Bowyer’s automobile dealership and the Clint Bowyer Community Building he donated to the city.
So imagine the celebration that would ensue.
“Mother’s Day … she wouldn’t be proud of me,” Bowyer said with a sarcastic laugh. “If that was to happen, I probably wouldn’t be in very good shape for Mother’s Day. We’d probably have to postpone that to Monday. It would be huge to win at home and finally seal the deal after all this time. It would be ultra-special. I don’t know that it would be any more special than the first time I raced here though. It is one of the tracks I have always wanted to win at."
“All my family and friends and people that helped me get to where I am today all live here in the area and it would be cool to celebrate that with them.”
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