NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer paid a visit to the athletics facilities at the University of Kansas earlier this week. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

His goals for 2010 are what you’d expect. Bowyer says he must “win races, make the Chase and compete for the championship. If you’re not doing that, then you’re forgotten.”

Bowyer has two career Cup victories, winning at New Hampshire (2007) and Richmond (2008). While he failed to win a race last year, his average finish of 14.9 and 16 top-10 finishes nearly mirrored his totals from the previous season (14.0 avg. finish, 17 top-10s). With the competition only getting stronger, merely maintaining your program’s performance level equates to falling behind.

“When it’s as competitive as it is in this sport, it’s not one thing,” Bowyer said. “You’re not off that much. It’s just all the little things that add up. We have to keep building and get RCR turned around and headed in the right direction.”

For his No. 33 team, there was the not-so-little matter of adjusting to its new surroundings in 2009.

“We needed a year under our belt,” Bowyer said. “I hated that we didn’t make the Chase and that we struggled. But we needed that under our belt. We had excuses last year. There are no excuses for this year.”

THE BOWYER FILE

•Best career finish: 1st (twice; most recently at Richmond, 2008)
•Career Cup top-10s: 61
•Laps led: 728
•Best track: Infineon (8.0 avg. fin.)
•Worst track: Talladega (23.2 avg. fin.)
•Did You Know: Bowyer is a big Elvis Presley fan. One of his off-track highlights was meeting Lisa Marie Presley in 2005 during the Nationwide race weekend in Memphis.

SceneDaily.com • Dovers spring Cup race will again promote autism awareness