To say that Clint Bowyer is the “strange man” of anything is to say it a little bit. Strange, in a smart way of course, because the Kansas venue is one of NASCAR’s most colorful and entertaining personalities.
Bowyer announced last week that he would leave the Ford No. 14 at Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the year. Strange, considering that when he signed a one-year extension of his contract with the team at the end of last season. He indicated that he was looking to return to the team in 2021, and said he was looking to stay there until his retirement, something he reiterated as recently as in July.
So what’s changed?
After declaring that he would move to the air booth with Fox Sports next season, Bowyer met with the media and said he is looking for sponsors for next season.
“Yes, were we running with what happens next in a race car?Absolutely,” Bowyer said, he always paints with partners. Always check to understand, check to help them have an effect on this sport, not only for the racing side, but also for their businesses. It was about running with Rusty from Rush and DeKalb and all our partners, Peak, everyone I would have needed to stay in that race car.
Suddenly, however, it changed.
“Yes, it’s 2020, isn’t it? That’s what it is,” Bowyer said. “Is this the best time to do all this? I don’t think 2020 is the best time at all. We all need it to be right, we, however, the timing is something. This opportunity presented itself. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity to continue to be a component of the game for many years, and that’s the best of it.
“Was he about to be in a position to get out of the car and think about it anyway?Were there many things that happened this year on the calendar and things like that, where I walked away from my family circle for Do I do it on my own, which made that resolution a little easier?Oui. It was a lot of those things, but the fans, the occasion of a weekend of racing is something you can’t do without. “
While we can communicate about the sponsorship issues of many NASCAR teams, and all professional sports for that matter, this does not appear to be the case with Bowyer. For Bowyer, his delight at the Fox booth before this season, when the top of the global blocked due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Fox broadcast the iRacing series hastily, which caused drivers to run through simulators and guest Bowyer joined politics, began replacing his brain over his future.
“When Fox, and going back to the pandemic, there are opportunities and crazy things, and it’s those crazy and crazy things in life that open up that opportunity,” he said. “This pandemic has resulted in this opportunity to participate in the study with Jeff and Mike and we had a lot of fun doing those iRacing races that actually allowed us to stay on the map with our game and continue to be our supported sponsors, to advance the company, making it go round in circles. A laugh for me, and it opened my eyes enormously, and it was anything that no one expected that opened the door to this opportunity that we seized. “
He added that the replacement arrived a week before his announcement, but said, “You don’t make that decision. They’re making that decision. There’s no runner there, they’ve given you a lot of friends and things like that. “if they had simply stayed in the game and did something that wasn’t in the seat every week, they would have taken that. It’s the TELEVISION that gave me this offer and this opportunity. They made that decision, not me. All I had to do to be wise enough to seize the opportunity and seize it. That’s what we did. “
Fans will have much more of this entertaining personality next season when Bowyer enters the air booth with Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon. Bowyer will update former retired analyst and pilot Darrell Waltrip, with his slogan “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity”.
Waltrip was perhaps one of NASCAR’s oldest and most well-known colorful personalities in his NASCAR Cup career. Waltrip raced a Cup car from 1972 to 2000, racking up 84 wins in 809 runs and winning three Cup titles. Early in his car race, Waltrip earned the nickname “Jaws” not only for his competitive style of off-piste racing, but also for his off-piste candor. It was perhaps the last driving force of a generation of driving forces that were less devoted to appeasing sponsors with their words and more to saying exactly what they thought. , the consequences are doomed.
After Waltrip’s retirement, drivers seemed little more than corporate spokespersons, much to the sadness of many fans.
Until Clint Bowyer arrives, that doesn’t mean Bowyer doesn’t care about his sponsors. Of course you can, but Bowyer can weave a thread or respond in a way that puts a smile on the faces of fans, contestants and sponsors.
It’s almost as if Fox and NASCAR would get “Jaws 2. 0” next season; many enthusiasts expect it to take place without the slogan “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity”.
As for Bowyer, he doesn’t apologize for turning his brain and hanging his helmet, despite the overnight replacement.
“I don’t regret it,” Bowyer said, “I can promise you this: I’ve probably laughed more than in the last 16 years, probably too much sometimes, but would I remove something or replace something?
“I mean, they gave us closer once, finished moment and I think fifth, we had smart problems in the playoffs and stuff like that. Have I won as many races as I would have liked? No, however, I had glorious opportunities and ran for many smart organizations. I won races for all three manufacturers. It’s a great thing. I’ve done a lot. I’m proud of what I’ve done and I’m satisfied, of course. There’s no doubt about that one. “
I’ve been writing about the NASCAR game for over two decades and in the past I’ve worked full-time for the Sporting News service and Scripps-Howard.
I have written about the NASCAR game for over two decades and in the past I worked full-time for Sporting News and Scripps-Howard News Service. I am also a contributor to two bird soup books for the Soul, adding NASCAR edition, published in 2010 and author of “The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers’ Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing”. I’m a multiple winner of the Motorgames National Press Association Award. I spent 23 years of active and active combined service in the reserve army, much in and around the special operations community, serving in Operation Just Cause, Desert Shield/Storm and ended my military career in Operation Enduring Freedom.