What a difference a year makes for Clint Bowyer.
Last September, Bowyer under scrutiny for a late-race spin ultimately changed the complexion of the 2013 Chase and left Richmond (Va.) International Raceway with a dark cloud casted over him and Michael Waltrip Racing, but still a championship hopeful.
12 months later, Bowyer had a strong, but uneventful night at Richmond, but failed to earn a berth into the Chase.
Michael Waltrip Racing did its job for Bowyer by providing competitive No. 15 5-hour Energy Toyota’s, but transmission gremlins at Atlanta and an unstoppable Brad Keselowski Saturday night at Richmond proved to be too much for the Emporia, Kansas native and his team to overcome.
“You know, if you make the Chase you want to compete for a championship. Truth be told, we’re not there right now,” said Bowyer. “A lot of work to do. We’ve got to continue to build on momentum like we had here tonight. You know, it’s definitely frustrating not making that Chase, but like I said, when you do make the Chase, you want it to be for a championship, not just ride around in it. We still haven’t won a race, and this 5 Hour Energy Toyota team, everybody on this 15 team deserves a win by the end of the year, and I’ll see to it they get it.”
Bowyer missed the Chase for the third time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career and first since 2011, but he didn’t shy away from the fact that his MWR team is improving and has the opportunity to earn the entitlement of a Chase contender (once) again in 2015.
“Everybody is working hard, everybody at TRD, everybody at MWR,” explained the eight-time Cup winner. “The 2 and the 24 have pretty much been the class of the field all season long. That was our best effort. That’s all I had, that’s all we had as a race team. We put it all out there, and still, we were just third best. Got some work to do, but a lot of racing left.”
Exiting Richmond, Bowyer sits 17th in the championship standings, the first spot outside the top-16 seeded for Chase contenders, nine points ahead of Kyle Larson.
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