Clint Bowyer Racing machines revealed for 2019 dirt racing season; Bowyer talks rules and more
Rule changes, driver changes, manufacture changes and more from Clint Bowyer
For 2019, Stewart-Haas Racing has big changes on the way. Daniel Suarez will move to the #41. Beyond that, the bigger change is the switch to the Ford Mustang.
Clint Bowyer won two races in 2018. However, he came up just short of placement in the Championship 4 in Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“There ain’t no wrinkles in a Ford Mustang, boy,” Bowyer told NASCAR.com Wednesday afternoon. “It’s a damn Mustang.”
Clint Bowyer on NASCAR rule changes
Beyond changes within the team, the sport is set for swift changes across the board. Tapered spacers to create less horsepower and bigger spoilers to create more downforce. The cars will be slower at a bulk of 1.5-mile tracks. But, the will also be less sensitive to dirty air which should create better racing.
“To be dead honest with you, generally speaking, I don’t know what to expect,” Bowyer said.
“I don’t think anybody can expect too much right now or know what to expect. I’m going to a test in Vegas out here next week. I’m looking forward to going out there and getting, I guess, that idea of the expectations going into the season under my belt, firsthand.”
“This is a drastic rule change. … Time will tell what opinions are made, and certainly I’ll form my opinion when that time comes. Testing is one thing. It’ll be, what, 14, 15 cars out there next week? When you get out there with 40 nut jobs, it’s a whole different story.”
“Looking forward to the test next week, as I said, but definitely looking forward to once you get out of Daytona 500 — Daytona is always going to be Daytona,” said the two-time 2018 winner.
Clint Bowyer on Daniel Suarez
Bowyer says he “didn’t have much of an opportunity to get to know (him) a lot” prior to now.
Clint is known to be energetic. Kevin Harvick regularly says that Bowyer walks in circles.
“I always thought I was excited and got excited in conversations. People have told me slow down. I had to say, ‘hey, Daniel, slow down, I’m way too country for all this’,” Bowyer said about a recent trip to Texas for Mobil 1 in which they “talked for six hours roundtrip.”
“Man, it’s fun to be around kids like that that are full of talent; full of piss and vinegar,” Bowyer said. “He’s set on kill. And excited about his opportunity, as he should be. He’s in good equipment.”
“I know the equipment he’s going to be sitting in; the team that he’s going to be with. They were on fire last year with (crew chief) Billy Scott and all those guys. He’s got a good future ahead of him for this year. I’m excited for him.”
Four car advantage
Stewart-Haas Racing has four bullets in the stable. In 2018, all four of them made the championship rounds. Two of them advanced into the final round.
“The strength comes with numbers in our sport, and having four cars is such a powerful thing; the difference that Aric Almirola brought in and making that fourth car real … ” Bowyer continued.
“And what I mean by that is as you’re going through practice sessions, as you’re going through changes and decisions and making those decisions with the setup one way or another, to be able to have the confidence in what he’s saying and the lap times to back it up gives you a lot of confidence in a decision to go that way if that opportunity is there, and certainly that opportunity is going to be there having Daniel in that fourth car just like it was with Kurt in it or anybody else.”
“It’s important for all of us to get Daniel caught up and up to speed on everything, and we’ll all benefit from that; Kevin, myself, Aric, everybody at Stewart-Haas will benefit on him being up to speed as soon as possible.”
Clint Bowyer Racing: Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
NASCAR star Clint Bowyer has something else going on outside of the NASCAR world. Next week, the 2019 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season begins. A swing of events at Golden Isles Speedway, East Bay Raceway Park and Bubba Raceway Park get the season started.
The dirt late model team has seen a driver change over the off-season. Clint Bowyer Racing welcomes Josh Richards to the #14. In addition, Don O’Neal will have a very different look as the season begins.
On top of that, Clint Bowyer Racing has made the switch to Rocket Chassis.
This week, several Rocket Chassis machines traveled to Ocala, Florida. They unloaded at Bubba Raceway Park for a test session. Track owner Bubba Clem was on hand and took a brief video of the test session.
Watch the Bubba Raceway Park testing videos below.
