NASCAR Kansas preview: Clint Bowyer readies for home race with realistic expectations

Upon returning to his home state this week, Clint Bowyer took time to visit friends and family and, of course, make an obligatory stop at Arthur Bryant’s to enjoy some BBQ. That’s how it goes for the Emporia, Kan., native when NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway, the site of Saturday night’s GoBowling.com 400.

The good vibes are welcome reprieve for Bowyer, who’s in the midst of a frustrating one-year stopgap with HScott Motorsports before moving to Stewart-Haas Racing next season where he will replace the retiring Tony Stewart.

Before the season Bowyer was optimistic that he could help HScott, a modest two-car operation, lay the foundation for the organization to continue its growth and leave the team in better shape than when he arrived. And if all went well, Bowyer thought he could string together enough good finishes to earn a longshot berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff.

But as NASCAR’s premier division enters Kansas for its 11th race of the season, Bowyer finds himself facing the reality of what life is like with a team that doesn’t possess the wealth of resources he’s accustomed to, having previously driven for the now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing and Richard Childress Racing, two organizations that had a deep roster of personnel and not lacking in capital.

Currently Bowyer resides 27th in points with an average finish of 25th. Although he’s finished in the top 10 in two of the past three races, those came on a pair of tracks, Bristol and Talladega, where a driver can compensate for their team’s shortcomings with skill.

“I’ve been with the biggest teams there is and have obviously been with a younger team and a smaller team,” Bowyer said Friday. “This is hard. This is a hard business and is very competitive and if you are good you better work hard to stay good or you are not going to be there long. If you are bad, you’ve got to work hard to get caught up.”

Bowyer’s irritation with how the season has progressed has manifested itself in midrace rants over the radio. An occurrence that’s become more frequent as the poor finishes have continued to pileup.

“Whether I’m frustrated or happy or whatever that ventilation whether it’s a celebratory ventilation or a pissed-off moment happens, the wick is pretty short it burns out about five minutes and the next thing out of my mouth is ‘Alright now what are we going to do to fix it?’” Bowyer said. “This sport is all about what you are going to do tomorrow.

“That is what you have to instill in yourself and everybody around you to be able to go out there and get the job done and compete at the level that I know we are capable of competing at for our sponsors and for ourselves.”

Despite the setbacks, Bowyer remains committed to building HScott into a team that one day can compete for wins. But that development is rigorous and there will be the inevitable missteps along the way. And though a victory may be out of reach this season, Bowyer believes achieving steady consistency is a reasonable objective.

“It’s pretty hard to set goals to winning races and things like that because, let’s face it; you’ve got to crawl before you can walk in life,” Bowyer said. “... You’ve got to create some goals to where you can get to where you want to be. That isn’t just a year’s time no matter what the situation is.”

Incremental improvement, however, means any hope Bowyer has of winning a first-ever Sprint Cup race at Kansas will have to until he joins SHR in 2017. HScott simply isn’t ready to challenge for wins on intermediate tracks where the sport’s powerhouses hold a significant advantage. Bowyer’s registered finishes of 35th, 22nd and 38th in previous races on mile-and-a-half speedways this season.

“It is beginning to start rolling,” Bowyer said. “It’s important to work hard to continue to improve. We’ve got some good things coming that I’m excited about.

“When you are down, most of the time there is a reason, especially, when you are down as far as we are down. We had work to do. We are starting to get some new wave of cars built and get some things to where we all are satisfied with them.”