Clint Bowyer made his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut at ISM Raceway in Phoenix on April 23, 2005, driving for Bill McAnally and Richard Childress. He started 25th and finished 22nd, one lap behind race-winner Kurt Busch.
Busch and his brother Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick are the only current drivers who were in the field for Bowyer’s Phoenix debut in 2005 who will likely race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway Sunday when Bowyer makes his 500th Cup Series start driving the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1 Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR.)
“It’s hard to believe this is the 500th start,” said the 40-year-old Bowyer, who is in his third year driving for SHR. “I have had a lot of help and support over the years, from the people who helped me get started in the early days in Kansas through all the NASCAR teams and sponsors I have worked with over the years. I have been very fortunate and very grateful for the career I’ve been able to enjoy.”
It’s been a successful career.
In his 499 Cup starts coming into this weekend, Bowyer has enjoyed 10 Cup Series victories, 80 top-five finishes, 211 top-10s, three poles, 2,939 laps led and three top-five finishes in the season standings. He also owns eight NASCAR Xfinity Series and three NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victories, as well as the Xfinity Series title in 2008.
“This sport has undergone a lot of changes since I’ve become a part of it and we’ve had a lot of driver turnover in the last 15 years or so,” he said, “but I am still as big of fan of NASCAR as I was the day I first walked into the garage.”
There won’t be much nostalgia in the No. 14 camp this weekend because there’s a tremendous amount of work to do at Talladega. Bowyer arrives at the second of the three-race Round of 12 portion of the NASCAR playoffs 10th in points.
He is just four points behind the eighth and final transfer spot with only Talladega and Kansas Speedway in Kansas City remaining in the round. Last week at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Bowyer raced at the front of the field before finishing 10th and moving from 12th to 10th in the standings.
He knows he is one of the favorites at Talladega this weekend. In the last two superspeedway races, Bowyer has been at the front of the field when an accident ruined his day. In 27 career starts at Talladega, he owns two victories, seven top-fives and 13 top-10s.
Bowyer hopes for a repeat of last year’s race at Talladega, when SHR dominated the weekend. After sweeping the top four spots in qualifying, SHR drivers Bowyer, Harvick, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola led 155 of the 193 laps during the race, often running all four Fords nose to tail in their own lead pack. Almirola and Bowyer swept the top-two finishing positions, Almirola’s victory ensuring all four SHR cars earned trips to victory lane in 2018.
“That was about as good as it gets in NASCAR,” Bowyer said. “We had the speed. Doug Yates and all of his team at Roush-Yates Engines gave us great power. Our chassis shop and the aero department were amazing because those Fords stuck to the track like glue. As the tires started wearing out, people started falling off. We didn’t. We were able to hold it wide open and stay in a line, and stay in that wake of the car in front of you, and we drove off from the field. It was cool to look in the mirror and see that train of Fords behind you.”
He said that performance meant a lot for SHR.
“That day completed our organization, you know what I mean?,” Bowyer said. “Aric’s victory put all four cars in victory lane for the year and set a precedent for SHR that ‘We’re here.’ That was big for our organization. Heck, that would have been big for any organization. And for us to do that in SHR’s 10th anniversary year made it special.”
Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford Mustang will carry the Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Delvac paint scheme this weekend at Talladega.
Rush Truck Centers has been the primary partner of the No. 14 team since Bowyer arrived at SHR in 2017 and has been with the organization since 2010. The San Antonio, Texas-based company has used Bowyer and the team to appeal to NASCAR fans as one way to recruit the technicians it needs to operate the largest network of commercial truck and bus dealerships in the country, with locations in 22 states. According to Rush Truck Centers, the trucking industry is expected to need 200,000 diesel technicians over the next 10 years to keep up with maintenance demands.
Mobil 1 plays an integral role in SHR’s success. Mobil 1’s lubricant technology helps to reduce frictional loss in its Ford engines to maximize fuel mileage, increase horsepower and turn more rpm, providing an advantage over its competitors. Mobil 1 also helps reduce friction in suspension components, providing maximum tire grip as well as helping to reduce steering compliance to give its teams an edge behind the wheel. Not only does Mobil 1 help improve the on-track efficiency of SHR, but the on-track testing helps lead to new lubricant technology developments such as Mobil 1 Annual Protection, which allows drivers to travel up to 20,000 miles, or one full year, between oil changes. In its 17th consecutive season as the “Official Motor Oil of NASCAR,” Mobil 1 is used by more than 50 percent of teams throughout NASCAR’s top three series. Trusted by many of the world’s leading heavy-duty original equipment manufacturers, Mobil Delvac commercial vehicle lubricants are used across a broad range of industries.
Bowyer hopes his 500th start is memorable – one that ideally propels him to the Round of 8.
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