Bowyer fights his emotions sitting outside the Chase

LOUDON, N.H. -- At the beginning of the 2009 season, in his wildest imagination Clint Bowyer never, ever could've dreamed he'd be in this position at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on the eve of the sixth annual Chase.

Bowyer -- who for the past two years has been a top-five championship finisher -- is on the outside looking in. And make no mistake about it, the Kansan who drives Richard Childress Racing's No. 33 Chevrolet doesn't like it.

"It's hard," Bowyer said, the emotion of the simple statement etched deeply into his face. "It's hard to swallow, hard to take in. You work hard and you're very proud of your team and their hard work that they've put into a year and when it doesn't go according to plan it's frustrating and hard to take for everybody."

But with only 12 teams in the Chase, the challenge becomes not "mailing it in" before the end of the schedule, which is still two months away. Bowyer's bunch proved that wouldn't be the case by coming back for a sixth-place finish in the Chase cutoff race last weekend at Richmond, despite having no chance to make the Chase.

"Everybody works so hard on these teams and you work hard as a driver, racing hard week-in and week-out, and when it's not enough and when you come up short into the cutoff, it's a hard one," Bowyer said. "Making it the last two years, we took great pride in making that and being a part of that group and racing for a championship."

After getting plenty used to being in the mix, New Hampshire marks the start of unusual territory for Bowyer, but he said he'd adjust.

"Being in New York [for Chase Media Day] and being in all the media, watching those guys doing that all week long -- don't get me wrong, it's a pain in the [butt] but when you don't get to do it, it's tough," Bowyer said.

And now he's in New Hampshire and striving to improve his stats, which despite having a new team, have the potential to equal last year's, when he had a win, seven top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. (Continued)