NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Friday Texas Notebook
Clint Bowyer handling the pressure well with three Chase races remaining…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted November 02, 2012   Fort Worth, TX
Clint Bowyer is third in Chase points entering Sunday’s AAA Texas 500. (Photo: Getty Images)
BOWYER HANGING LOOSE – Is Clint Bowyer tense about the Chase for the Sprint Cup?

Apparently not. He was Mr. Cool during a media-center appearance at Texas Motor Speedway Friday, where he talked about a hunting trip in Kansas Thursday.

“I went hunting yesterday and saw a huge deer,” Bowyer said. “Focus is a little bit of an issue for me anyway. I woke up this morning thinking about that deer. I know I need to try to win this championship. But that deer was huge. Huge.”

Bowyer didn’t bag the deer. “Wrong side of the fence,” he said. “You can get shot in Kansas for that.”

Bowyer is third in Chase points entering Sunday’s AAA Texas 500, 26 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

“We’ve got to keep digging,” Bowyer said. “We got to make up for it here in Texas. We’ve got three races to go. Everybody is still set on kill.

“The car can get the job done. We’ll see if the driver can.”

JOHNSON FOCUSED ON NO. 6 – Let there be no doubt that point leader Jimmie Johnson is ready for the final three weeks of the season.

“I’ve worked my whole career to get to this point,” Johnson said Friday. “I think I’ve matured a lot, even through the five championship years and even through last year coming up short. I think I’m a better race car driver and focused on the right things more than last year and the year before.

“I have a crystal-clear focus on what I need to do and how to go about it.”

Johnson, who has been involved with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts along with Hendrick Motorsports and his primary sponsor, Lowe’s, said the building where he and his wife, Chandra, own an apartment in New York City was among the buildings flooded during the storm.

DILLON SPONSOR RENEWS – AdvoCare has renewed its sponsorship agreement with Richard Childress Racing and will sponsor driver Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet for the full Nationwide Series schedule next year.

AdvoCare sponsored Dillon for 20 races this season.

Dillon is expected to move up to Sprint Cup racing in 2014 after pursuing the Nationwide championship next year.

"One of our goals at AdvoCare is to build brand awareness, which our partnership with Richard Childress Racing, Austin and the No. 3 car has helped us accomplish," said Mike Vaught, AdvoCare director of corporate sponsorships. "The values of both organizations align, and this sponsorship is a powerful opportunity for us all to grow stronger."

Since 2011, AdvoCare has been the title sponsor for the Labor Day Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In September, the company announced it will be the title sponsor for Phoenix International Raceway's Nov. 11 Sprint Cup race.

Dillon ranks third in the Nationwide Series point standings, trailing leader and RCR teammate Elliott Sadler by 26 points.

EDWARDS SEEKS TEXAS REMEDY – A year ago, all was bright in Carl Edwards’ world.

It was Texas race week, and Edwards held an eight-point lead over Tony Stewart in the race for the Sprint Cup championship.

As championship contenders should, they ran one and two in the race, Stewart outrunning Edwards by 1.09 seconds. Edwards left Fort Worth with his point lead trimmed to three. Two races later, Stewart would win the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, putting him in a tie atop the final points with Edwards and putting the championship – via tiebreaker – in his pocket.

A year later, Edwards is seeking to right his ship. He missed this year’s Chase and is trying to build for next season. He has a shot to end a 66-race winless streak Sunday at Texas, where he leads the victory column with three.

“We feel like with a win, or two, just like in 2010, when we won the last two races, it kept the guys pumped up through the whole off-season,” Edwards said. “Everybody was raring to go in 2011, and we pretty much dominated other than Tony coming on strong at the end. We need to do that again right now.

“Texas is a fun track for me and our team. Just like a lot of the mile-and-a-halves, this one requires everything to be right. You have to have a big engine, a good pit crew and qualify well. All those things are tough, and I think that this race, even just the race itself as it goes on, you get to see who has their ducks in a row better than other guys.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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