NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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IN THE COCKPIT: Clint Bowyer - Closing A Chapter
Although I am moving on after this weekend, RCR and all its personnel are still family to me...
Clint Bowyer  |  Posted November 15, 2011   Welcome, NC
Clint Bowyer (Right) will make his final start for team owner Richard Childress (Left) this weekend. (Photo: Getty Images)
This is it. My last race at Richard Childress Racing comes Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It still feels weird to say or write that because I’ve been driving for RCR for so long. It’s all I’ve ever known in NASCAR. So, saying goodbye at Homestead probably won’t be the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Sure, I’ll still see Richard and all the guys every weekend at the race track, and I’ll keep up with some of them away from the track, but it’s still going to be a little bittersweet to cross the start/finish line one last time, drive the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet back to the hauler and climb out for the final time.

I really don’t have much idea how I’m going to feel or react. I just know that Homestead will feel different.

But I don’t think it will totally sink in for me that I’m no longer racing for RCR until we get further into the offseason, right about the time the craziness picks up after the holidays. It probably will be mid-January when we’re back in Daytona testing, doing all the new sponsor shoots and fulfilling marketing obligations, fitting my seat at Michael Waltrip Racing and all those “new season” things. But I guess it will smack me in the face when I’m not sitting in the No. 33 next year at Daytona.

But first thing’s first. I actually am looking forward to this season being in the books because it has been a fairly long one with all the uncertainty about my future that dragged on for months. No matter how well you run during that time – and we’ve run pretty well – the cloud hanging over your head tends to drag things down a bit.

But we got through it and have one more chance to snag a win before I head out. It would be awesome to end my tenure at RCR in Victory Lane in the final race. I’ve loved working with Shane Wilson and all the guys on the No. 33 team, and we’ve had some great runs. We’re just looking for one more. I’m also running Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race for KHI, which is in its final weekend of NASCAR competition, so hopefully those extra laps will help me learn a little about how the track changes and so forth.

I wish we were going to be in Las Vegas in two weeks for the awards ceremony, but that wasn’t in the cards this year. So, our offseason will start a few days earlier than normal. I plan on spending a lot of time at home, catching up on everything I neglect during the season and regrouping a bit. There’s always my dirt team and dirt cars that I don’t get to spend as much time with during the NASCAR season. I’ll also go out to Kansas a couple of times. I obviously spend the holidays with my family, but I also plan to hunt out there a few times. I usually take two or three guys from RCR with me on those trips, and although I’ll no longer be part of the RCR family, I don’t think my hunting buddies will change. RCR and all its personnel are still family to me. We were a great fit and had a lot in common, and we’ll maintain those relationships no matter what my new work address is.

Speaking of my new job, this really is an exciting time for me. This is an important new chapter in my life and career, and MWR is a fresh start for me. I’m anxiously anticipating the move to the No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota and can’t wait to see how it all plays out. They are amidst a lot of change and restructuring, but I think it’s all going to be positive. Scott Miller has moved over there from RCR and Mark Martin is going to be my second teammate alongside Martin Truex Jr. I think MWR has made some great decisions in the past couple of months and I think that organization is going to continue to evolve over the next season or two.

Before I go, I want to thank Richard Childress from the bottom of my heart for taking a chance on an unknown kid from Kansas. If it hadn’t been for him and his faith in me, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to everyone … see you in Daytona.

Clint Bowyer returns to the seat of the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet Impala for Richard Childress Racing for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Bowyer has qualified for the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup in three of the last four years, finishing 10th in 2010 with two wins, seven top-five and a career-high 18 top-10 finishes. He finished the 2007 season third in points and the 2008 season fifth, and won the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship for RCR. The 31-year-old was named driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet for RCR in 2006 and finished runner-up in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings on the strength of four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. The Kansas native caught the eye of Richard Childress after leading 47 laps en route to a runner-up finish in his ARCA Racing Series debut at Nashville Superspeedway in 2003. Bowyer won the 2002 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Midwest Region championship and two NASCAR Dodge Weekly track titles in 2002. He also fields a full-time dirt late model team under the Clint Bowyer Racing banner with drivers Dale McDowell and Jared Landers. For more information on Bowyer or his RCR team, please visit the following; Twitter account: @RCR33CBowyer,
http://www.rcrracing.com, http://www.cheeriosracing.com, http://www.clintbowyer.com.
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