Bowyer, Harvick to continue battle for Chase berth at Watkins Glen
By SceneDaily Staff
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
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Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer have hovered all around the 12th and final spot in the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup in recent weeks.
Both have been on the bubble, just below it, or just above it.
The possibility exists that the two Richard Childress Racing teammates could even settle the spot among themselves, with one driver squeaking into the 10-race playoff and the other being the first man out.
The next round of the hotly contested battle for a Chase berth will be Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course known as Watkins Glen International.
Harvick enters the event 11th in the standings, just eight points ahead of Bowyer, who is 11 points in front of 13th-place Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate, David Ragan, is just 35 points behind him.
“We haven’t had everything go right this year, so we are pretty happy to be in this position,” Harvick said. “We still have to go out and race has hard as we can every week. I have learned not to let the point situation stress me out. I just go out and race and do the best I can, and things will fall the way they are supposed to.
"I think if we keep up the performance we have had for the last five or six weeks, and don’t have anything major go wrong, we will be OK.”
If history is an indicator, Harvick could put some distance on Bowyer and others at Watkins Glen. In seven Cup starts at the facility, the
Bakersfield, Calif., native has four top-10 finishes, including a win in 2006.
Bowyer, meanwhile, has finished 14th and 16th, respectively, in his previous Cup outings at the track. While those results aren’t spectacular, they’re solid for the driver who enters Sunday’s race with a paltry five Cup road-course appearances to his credit.
Bowyer says he doesn’t feel underrated as a road-course racer.
“Not a bit,” he said. “Results speak for themselves. We just need to go out there and make it happen.”
Making it happen on Sunday will also make Bowyer’s path to the Chase a little easier. Only five races remain before the championship-determining field is set at Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 6.
Bowyer, who missed the Chase as a series rookie, is looking to qualify for a second straight year.
“A road course is definitely an opportunity to make up or lose a lot of ground,” he said. “You have to make sure you’re on the taking side of things there.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Clint Bowyer
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