Leave it to Clint Bowyer to provide some perspective on the tussle between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin last week at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Fontana 2013: Clint Bowyer: ‘It’s fun to see people get pissed off’
Seeing Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin scuffle at Bristol made Clint Bowyer excited and it’s that kind of emotion he feels NASCAR needs more of nowadays.
“I’m so proud of Denny and Joey,” Bowyer said Friday at Auto Club Speedway. “They did such a good job. It was great. It’s just good to see that. Emotions are high at a short track and things happen and no different than what happened at Phoenix.
“It’s entertainment. It’s fun to see people get pissed off.”
Bowyer was in the middle of a radio interview when he saw the fracas on a big-screen monitor and felt compelled to start calling the action as if he were an announcer.
“It was fun there for a minute,” Bowyer said. “I was really wanting to announce, ‘Here he comes, it was an uppercut ladies and gentleman,’ but it didn’t get that far unfortunately.”
If there is a driver who knows a thing or two about post-race theatrics, it would be Bowyer, who was involved the last time there was a notable scrap in the garage. Of course, that was at Phoenix in November, when Bowyer and his team squared off against the crew of Jeff Gordon after Gordon had intentionally wrecked Bowyer.
To this day, it’s an incident Bowyer hasn’t completely gotten over. Furthermore, it’s an issue he no longer wants to discuss as he attempted to steer the conversation in another direction when the subject was broached.
One topic Bowyer had no problem talking about Friday is the strong start he has enjoyed this season with three finishes of 11th or better in the first four races. And that effort has him fourth in the standings and optimistic with where he sits heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400.
However, if there is an area where Bowyer feels his team needs to improve, it is running up front, leading laps and challenging for wins. Thus far the No. 15 team has paced the field for just a single circuit. It’s an issue that has also confounded the entire Michael Waltrip Racing organization as Martin Truex Jr. has led zero laps.
Nonetheless, Bowyer is happy and understands that after a 2012 campaign that saw him win three races and finish second in the championship, expectations are different than they were a year ago.
“I think we’re running exactly the way we did last year,” Bowyer said. “... It’s just that’s what you expect after the way that the season ended last year, so I just think expectations are a little bit different and they should be.”
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