TEAM REPORTS (DAYTONA, FLA.) - RCR'S BOWYER DAYTONA ADVANCE

NOTES:

This Week’s BB&T Chevrolet at Daytona International Speedway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 053 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) stable. This BB&T Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS was built new for 2006, tested three times at Daytona since then (Jan. ’06, Jan. ’07, Jan. ’08) but has yet to be raced. Chassis No. 031 is the back-up car for the Camping World 300.
Chasing a Championship … For the first time since 2006 and third time in his career, Bowyer will compete full-time in the NNS and pursue the division’s championship. The 2005 championship runner-up will race the BB&T Chevy in 25 races this season with Camping World rounding out the remaining 10 races on the 2008 schedule.
Some New Faces … As Bowyer purses the 2008 division title, some new faces join the BB&T racing team. Alan Andreoli, an employee of Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines, will serve as the team’s engine tuner, while PJ Bryant is the group’s new shock specialist. Chad Haney comes over as the car chief and catch can man with Michael Hodges, serving as Haney’s assistant car chief, is the team’s new rear tire carrier. Danny Rankin and Shane Stevenson are the new rear tire changer and Jackman and former NNS driver Jimmy Kitchens will be Bowyer’s spotter on both Saturday and Sunday. Shane Westerberg returns as the front tire changer.
Facts are Facts … In six NNS starts at Daytona, Bowyer has four top-five and five top-10 finishes. The 28-year-old driver has an impressive 8.7 starting average but an even more impressive 5.8 average finish. He hasn’t finished worse than 12th at the 2.5-mile high-banked Daytona Beach tri-oval and has completed all 669 laps of competition. Meanwhile, in five previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) starts on Daytona’s high-banks, including this year’s Budweiser Shootout, Bowyer has logged a 22.2 starting average and a sturdy 10.6 average finish.
RCR Nationwide Cars at DIS … RCR has won two Nationwide Series races at Daytona International Speedway – one with Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2002) and most recently last season when Kevin Harvick knocked down back-to-back wins in the Orbitz 300 and the Daytona 500 last February. In 29 NNS starts at the storied 2.5 mile race track, RCR has earned one pole (Harvick 2005), 18 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes. RCR cars have also led 274 laps at the “World Center of Racing.”
And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor … BB&T Corporation, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a fast growing, highly profitable financial holding company. Its bank subsidiaries operate more than 1,500 financial centers in the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Maryland, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Indiana and Washington, D.C. Building on a tradition of excellence in community banking that stretches back to 1872, BB&T continues to offer clients a complete range of financial services including banking, lending, insurance, trust, wealth management and capital markets solutions. BB&T’s operating strategy distinguishes it from other financial holding companies. BB&T’s banking subsidiaries are organized as a group of community banks, each with a regional president, which allows decisions to be made locally, close to the client. This also makes BB&T’s client service more responsive, reliable and empathetic.
Double Down in Daytona … Following his duties behind the wheel of the BB&T Chevy, Bowyer will turn his attention to the No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Impala SS for Sunday’s 50th running of the Daytona 500. Live coverage of the 50th Anniversary edition of the “Great American Race” will take the green flag Sunday, Feb. 17 beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The first points-paying race on the 2008 NSCS schedule will be televised live on FOX and broadcast worldwide on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio. The Gatorade Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races will take the green flag Thursday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. EST and will be broadcast live on SPEED, MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. The Twin 150s will then re-air on SPEED the same night at 9 p.m. EST.
Catch the Action … Flag-to-flag coverage of the Camping World 300 will be televised live on ESPN2 Saturday, Feb. 16 beginning at noon EST. The first of 35 races on the 2008 calendar will also be broadcast live MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the NNS season-opener will be telecast live on ESPN2 Friday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. EST.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES

It looks like you’re going to have a very busy year. What’s you motivation for running the entire Nationwide Series schedule?

“We have a really good opportunity. BB&T stepped up and were willing to support our team and I haven’t won a championship in the Nationwide Series. It’s one of a couple series I’ve moved on from and didn’t win the championship. I’ve gotten close a couple of times but it’s still a sore spot for me. Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is etched in stone but that’s what I’m after.”

If you don’t win the championship, would you consider doing it again?

“Probably not. We only get four or five weekends off from the Sprint Cup Series and this pretty much wipes those out. The Nationwide Series is a lot of fun. It’s a good, competitive series and I want to be a part of it for as long as I can but probably not on a full-time basis after this year.”

Do you see this year as a head-to-head battle between you and Carl Edwards?

“I think so. I’m sure there will be a lot of surprises but I think that’s going to be the group to beat.”