Between the announcements that he’s going to become a father and that he’s earned a new extension with Michael Waltrip Racing, one could argue that Clint Bowyer’s having the Best Week Ever.
And should he win Saturday night’s 5-Hour Energy 400 in front of his home-state fans at Kansas Speedway – and in his 300th career Sprint Cup start?
Well, there would be no need to argue at all.
“Every time you see one of these 300 starts or 400 starts, whatever it is with us, it really doesn’t register until you get back to thinking about how it all began and what it really means,” he said today in a NASCAR teleconference. “[I’m] very fortunate to be a part of this sport for 300 races.
“Now just announcing that we’re going to be a part of it for another extended amount of time, it’s very gratifying and there is a great deal of pride that goes into that.”
In addition to his own extension with MWR, his crew chief, Brian Pattie, and primary sponsor 5-Hour Energy also received extensions as well. Today, Bowyer talked about the positives of keeping everybody together on the same team.
“The key to success in this sport is people and being able to keep those people together, so I’m really happy about keeping Pattie and the whole group intact,” he said.
“To get all that behind you – I’m telling you, going through these contracts and stuff like that, it’s just hard on everybody…I bet I had six or seven people stop me in the shop and ask, ‘Hey, are you going to re-sign?’ ‘Are you going to re-sign?’ ‘What’s going on?’ Because they’re wanting to know about their future too and trying to figure out what that holds.”
Of course, today’s teleconference also moved into an extended period of baby chatter as well.
Bowyer said he and new wife Lorra were expecting their child to arrive at the end of September – which just happens to be when the early races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup take place.
“That’s always something,” he said. “I’ve watched all my peers go through this, and to be honest with you, it always seems to go smooth sailing. But never anything seems to go smooth sailing and according to plan for me, so who knows.
“All hell will break loose and we’ll just have to figure it out when we get there.”
Additionally, Bowyer noted that the baby’s arrival creates another conflict off the track.
“It couldn’t have been timed any worse,” he said jokingly. “It was like, you do realize that is right in the middle of hunting season?
“So maybe some of these big white-tailed deer we have out here in Kansas will be safe this year.”