For Kansas Native Clint Bowyer, There’s No Place Like Home

With everything Clint Bowyer has been through in the last couple weeks – going from the highs of winning at New Hampshire and moving to second in Chase points to the lows of being virtually eliminated by a severe NASCAR penalty – the Kansas native has learned one thing: There’s no place like home.

Bowyer returned to Kansas earlier this week and went all over the state to visit his old stomping grounds. He went to Topeka, Lawrence, then returned to Kansas City to prepare for another race weekend.

He visited with his fan club, raced go-karts and soaked up some of the positive vibes all along the way. When he went to an old friend’s house to work on his dirt car, he said, it “felt like the old days.”

And with all that he’s endured lately, Bowyer needed that lift.

“You just have to get it out of your mind, you know?” he said of the penalty. “That’s the best thing about coming here is there’s so much distraction, so much other things that I don’t have to worry about it.

“We’re going to Lakeside (dirt track) tonight, we’ve had thousands of fans that we’ve already seen this week and those things get your mind off what you’re doing. I’m looking forward to unloading that race car and having a good day today, starting up front at what is one of the most important races of my year.”

Bowyer said the support from his fans have meant more to him than ever before. He said they don’t understand the penalty, “just like anybody else” (For his part, Bowyer said he’s “very disappointed, but not surprised at all” that the appeal wasn’t overturned).

“Times like this is when you really realize (how much the fans mean),” he said. “When things are good you don’t realize or feel the support of your fans as much as you should. When something comes up like this, you really feel the support that’s there and I think that’s important.

“That’s what fans are all about and that’s why we appreciate them and they’re loyal. They’re loyal to this sport and loyal to the drivers.”

But Bowyer indicated it’s time for his team to move on and deal with NASCAR’s penalty. Bowyer said he’s told team owner Richard Childress that “it’s not worth fighting” because he believes “their minds are made up.”

And at Dover, the distraction of the penalty took away some of his focus and caused the team to make some uncharacteristic mistakes, he said.

“Our heads weren’t 100 percent in the game,” he said. “I don’t want this mess to bother us anymore. I’m at my home track, I’m having fun and that’s what I aim to do.”

But the fun won’t include making a run at his first Sprint Cup title, Bowyer said. The Richard Childress Racing driver said “the championship hopes are done” for his team, instead vowing to now be the best teammate he can be to Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.

“We have to bring a championship home,” he said. “We still have two shots at that.”

Bowyer promised he wouldn’t let the ordeal (or the “joke,” as he called it) affect who he is as a driver or a person.

“We’ll get through it,” he said. “We’ve got to get through it this weekend. I’m here to win this race. I’ve gotten close a couple times and I can promise you, if we win this thing it will be a big party.”