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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Bowyer Riding A Big Bubble
In 12th place, Clint Bowyer is the driver most vulnerable to dropping out of championship competition in the final two races of the regular season...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted September 05, 2010   Hampton, GA
Clint Bowyer will start 14th Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Clint Bowyer is the man on the bubble Sunday night. Fortunately for him, it’s a very big bubble with a Teflon sort of coating.

In 12th place in Sprint Cup points (the last Chase qualifying position), Bowyer is the driver most vulnerable to dropping out of championship competition in the final two races of the regular season – Sunday night’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and next week’s Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

But it isn’t as if Bowyer is dancing on the edge of a sword. He has a 100-point lead over 13th-place Jamie McMurray and a 101-point lead over 14th-place Mark Martin. These are very comfortable numbers. Bowyer would have to go into rapid reverse to lose his spot.

Bowyer, who’ll start 14th Sunday night at AMS, isn’t ready to order his Chase tickets but doesn’t deny that he’s in good position.

“By no means is it a lock, and we don’t look at it as that,” he said. “But I feel a lot better about our situation. We’re running out of races, and we’ve put points on them and that’s a good feeling. … With any luck at all, we can be in this thing. We have two races left. I really feel like the only people that can beat us is ourselves. As long as we don’t beat ourselves, we’re going to be in this thing.

“We just have to go out and take care of business. Hopefully, I can put some more points on them here at Atlanta and roll on to Richmond and be able to do the things it takes to win that race. That is one of my best tracks, and that’s definitely a track that we can win at again.”
VIDEO: NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying - AMS Denny Hamlin wins Atlanta pole. (Image: SPEED)

The trick Sunday night, Bowyer said, is to avoid potholes.

“Just make sure I don’t screw up, first of all,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing – don’t beat yourself. I’ve been in this situation before – a lot of pressure and anybody can buckle under that pressure. You just have to go out there and have as much fun with it as you possibly can. And make sure, as a driver, you are a little bit of a quarterback, make sure you keep it upbeat and have fun with it, no matter what.

“Momentum, confidence is so much of this sport. It is so close that those two things are a huge thing and they feed off each other drastically.”

McMurray will start 12th and Martin 17th Sunday night. The 325-lap race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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