RICHMOND, Va. – On the verge of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup in his final season of driving at Michael Waltrip Racing, Clint Bowyer said he has deferred his 2016 contract negotiations for “a couple of weeks.”
With the 10-race Chase for the championship set to begin next Sunday, Sept. 20 at Chicagoland Speedway, the winless Bowyer has not yet locked himself into the field of 16, but the Emporia, Kansas native has a solid 29-point cushion ahead of 17th place competitor Aric Almirola heading in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400.
While, it would take a first-time 2015 Cup winner or an atrocity for Bowyer to lose his playoff berth, the veteran drivers says he has told interested parties the wants to place his undivided attention on the playoff format for now.
“I don’t want to use the word backburner but I said, let’s take a timeout right here for a couple of days,” Bowyer said. That’s what we did this week. I stayed at the farm and (wife) Lorra went to New York for a couple of days with her girlfriends.
“So it was just me and little man (son, Cash Aaron) chilling out.”
Despite signing a three-year extension with the Cornelius, North Carolina-based team last summer, Bowyer is in search of a new home on the Sprint Cup tour due to imminent closure of the team by the end of the season. Last month, MWR co-owner Rob Kauffman announced he was purchasing a stake of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Quickly, that set for the demise of the team founded by two-time Daytona 500 winner and current television analyst Michael Waltrip.
Among those teams looking to hire Bowyer’s services for next season include: Richard Petty Motorsports and HScott Motorsports. It’s also been thought that wherever Bowyer lands next season, it will be a short partnership as rumors continue to mount that the 36-year-old could head to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017 to replace three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart.
“First of all, it was very humbling, the phone calls as soon as the news comes out that you’re not going to have a future at your current employer,” said Bowyer. “Obviously, you get nervous about what that means for yourself and your people and everything.
“It’s humbling the amount of people that have reached out and been interested, but truth be told, look what we’re right in the middle of right now. This is better than finding out at the end of the year but these are crunchy times.”
Even though Bowyer is a relatively safe position entering the final race of the regular season, Bowyer said he was concerned about who was ahead of him, compared to the drivers behind him.
Paul Menard sits 10 points ahead of Bowyer in a better, more comforting 15th place. With Richmond ideally being one of his better performing race tracks, the often charismatic driver feels he has a good opportunity to overtake that position.
“To be dead honest with you, I woke up this morning and double checked myself with where we were in the points,” Bowyer said. “But I really didn’t look at it. Naturally, the driver in you looks at how close the guy is in front of you and he’s only 10 points ahead of me at one of my best race tracks. Honestly, that was the first thing on my mind.
“I saw where Menard was and thought that was doable. No one likes to look behind them — they like to look ahead and I feel like this is obtainable.”
Should the eight-time Cup winner advance to the Challenger Round next weekend in Joliet, it will mark his sixth appearance in the Chase. He finished a career-best second to Brad Keselowski in 2013.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
