The announcement

Has been made So NOT Flashback Friday.....
Clint Bowyer relishes opportunity after initial disappointment of having RCR deal fall through

By Bob Pockrass

Friday, October 07, 2011

Michael Waltrip Racing will field the No. 15 car for Clint Bowyer next year.

Sam Cranston
NASCAR Illustrated

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – When Clint Bowyer moves from Richard Childress Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing after the 2011 season, the driver with four career Cup victories will join an organization that has two.

He’ll move from an organization with 99 Cup wins and six Cup championships to an organization that has never had a driver qualify for the Chase For The Sprint Cup.

He’ll move from one of the sport's most historic organizations that is in its 42nd season to one still trying to find its footing in its fifth full-time Cup season.

So it appears this could be a risky move, a step down for the 32-year-old Bowyer. He indicates that he didn’t have much of a choice to leave RCR, but that he has embraced this opportunity.

“I feel like this is an opportunity for a young company like MWR to catch up to some of these bigger companies that are more established,” Bowyer said Friday after the announcement of his three-year deal with MWR. “That [step-down perception] is fuel for the fire, but that doesn’t bother me. … I’m looking forward to part of the cause and I think we can all move forward in this thing.

“I tell you that because I believe it. The timing is right.”

Until about two months ago, Bowyer thought that he would stay at RCR, where he has made all 210 of his career Cup starts.

But RCR couldn’t find sponsorship for Bowyer, and even when Bowyer brought sponsor 5-Hour Energy along, RCR still couldn’t make it work.

“We went and talked to them about the 5-Hour deal and they still couldn’t put a deal together, so I said, ‘Well, all right, we’ll go somewhere else,’” Bowyer said. “That’s probably what ultimately led to leaving RCR. … I was extremely surprised and disappointed. Obviously, I thought it was a sure lock.

“The more I got to know and realize the situation that Richard was in, I knew that I was in trouble. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. But change isn’t a bad thing.”

As he negotiated with RCR and team owner Richard Childress showed him his organization’s budgets, Bowyer realized that it was unlikely he would stay at RCR.

“Once you see the risk that they’re taking, you’re like, ‘Man, I don’t know that I blame you [for not doing the deal],’” Bowyer said. “It’s unfortunate and it’s tough for everybody in this sport right now. It’s opened my eyes up a bunch for the importance of funding, of sponsorships and those relationships.”

Bowyer said he took a cut in pay in making the move.

“At the end of the day, if your salary is taking away from the performance, it does you no good to hound after a salary,” Bowyer said. “You can’t go broke doing this, but you’ve got to allow these owners to have the funding to put you on top of the board.”

MWR general manager Ty Norris said that the perception of Bowyer’s move is understandable considering RCR’s pedigree.

“You can’t ignore it,” Norris said. “You’ve got to give Richard Childress Racing the props it deserves. They’re an organization that any driver in the world would want to drive for and should want to drive for and we’re still young.

“It takes people [such as Bowyer] who are willing to take some risks. … All we can do is continue the commitment to eventually be a team that has been here for 25 or 30 years that has won championships and races.”

Bowyer said he doesn’t want to be perceived as the “No. 1 guy” at MWR, which will add a car for Bowyer in addition to Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann.

“I want to be a team player, I want to be a part of something – if one guy is running well in an organization, it doesn’t do any good,” Bowyer said. “Look at our organization at RCR. We’ve got one guy running well and the other three are back markers.

“It’s not a good combination and it ultimately is going to hurt everybody.”

Bowyer hopes this move sparks his ability to make the Chase. He has failed to make the 10-race playoff in two of the last three seasons. No RCR driver made the Chase in 2009, all three made it in 2010 and only one (Kevin Harvick) made it in 2011.

“The last two or three years haven’t really gone the way the first three did,” Bowyer said. “I look forward to improving. I look at this as an opportunity to better myself. I really do.

“These cars are so even, it’s all about surrounding yourself with good people. I’ve been given an opportunity to start from scratch, to get a crew chief, to get a team assembled around me that is capable of making the Chase and winning races and competing for that championship.”

MWR will have to add employees for the Bowyer car if it continues its relationship of providing cars for JTG Daugherty Racing. It also needs to name a crew chief. Bowyer said former Earnhardt Ganassi Racing crew chief Brian Pattie is high on his list.

RCR likely will drop to three teams next season but obviously is grooming team owner Richard Childress grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon for future Cup rides.

“There was going to be an odd man out one of these days,” Bowyer said. “Everybody knows what’s coming. It was unfortunate that it was me. But I’m over the emotional part of that. I’m excited about the future. When I say the future is bright, I feel like it is.”

One of the reasons he feels that way is because he likes what co-owner Rob Kauffman brings to the team. Kauffman is a racing enthusiast and savvy investor who is based in England.

“He has success with what he does,” Bowyer said. “He’s a billionaire. Billionaires have success and make things work. I’m excited about working with Rob.”

Just two months ago, it would be hard to imagine Bowyer saying such a thing. But now he’ll leave the only Cup team he’s known as he lands at MWR after talks with RCR, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports.

“Timing is everything,” Bowyer said. “It’s so weird how all of this has happened. The minute one door closes, it’s like somebody is looking after you and just kind of put me on this path.

“As one door would close, the other one would open. It almost was like the very next step. It didn’t matter who you were talking to, there was a closed door and an open door and it kind of led to this. I truly feel like this is where I was meant to be.”

CONGRATULATIONS DRIVER!