Drivers recall emotions after first wins

LOUDON, N.H. – Your first win in any sport is always memorable.

Clint Bowyer was savoring his first Nextel Cup win after the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway Sunday when he was asked in a press conference if he remembered his first ever trip to Victory Lane?

He sure did.

“I was 16 years old and I was running in the Street Stocks. We were racing in Junction City [Kansas]. I was driving a ’78 Camaro,” said the 28-year-old native of Emporia, Kan.

“There was a huge fight,” he recalled. “I guy ran into me from behind and my tire went flat. They black-flagged him but let me go to the pits to change my tire and they put me back up front where I had been.”

He said the driver who was black-flagged was extremely irritated and wanted to vent his anger after the race.

“He was looking for the flag man, but the flag man was hiding in the concession stand. He started walking over to me, but I made sure I didn’t take my helmet off,” grinned Bowyer, who smartly avoided the burly driver.

Bowyer admitted that the last few laps of Sunday’s race were emotional for him and he was grateful to team owner Richard Childress, crew chief Gil Martin and the entire team.

He also said he was happy for his parents.

“They gave up four or five retirement programs to get me where I’m at,” said Bowyer, who recalled endless discussions and occasional disagreements with his father concerning his driving strategies.

Runner-up Jeff Gordon was asked to remember his first Nextel Cup victory and he said “That was a long time ago.”

“I’m an emotional guy and I think I cried the last two laps,” said Gordon.

Bowyer had been the only driver in the Chase not to win a race and that had dogged him, but he defended himself.

“I definitely believed I earned my spot in the Chase. We belonged. We did the things we needed to do to make the Chase,” said Bowyer, who was the 12th and final driver to make the Chase.

He trailed points leader Jimmie Johnson by 60 points, but his victory propelled him up to fourth place and moved him to within 15 points of co-leaders Johnson and Gordon.

Helton likes driver diversity

NASCAR is being invaded by open-cockpit drivers and that’s good news for the sport, according to NASCAR President Mike Helton.

Former CART points champion and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya is in his first season in Nextel Cup and is fighting for Rookie of the Year honors. He has also won a race.

Recently crowned Indy Racing League champ and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti is considering switching to a full-time Nextel Cup ride next year while three-time IRL champ Sam Hornish Jr. has run a number of Busch races this season and attempted unsuccessfully to qualify for his first Cup ride last weekend at NHIS.

Former Indy 500 winner and Formula One champ Jacques Villeneuve is scheduled to run the rest of the Craftsman Truck series this season.

“Our desires and efforts are all around building a series people want to participate in,” said Helton. “So when you see this type of activity and broad range of talent from a lot of different disciplines in motorsports looking at us to participate in, that’s flattering. It’s also what we’ve tried to build this sport into being.”

Helton said he has been pleased with the 2007 season and, in particular, the Car of Tomorrow, which will be used exclusively in all races next season. It is being used for selected races this season.

“The biggest thing is we’re already ahead of the game on the decision, collectively, between the garage and NASCAR to move forward with the Car of Tomorrow running the whole schedule in ’08. That resolves a lot of issues,” said Helton.

He said the driving force behind the Car of Tomorrow was the safety factor, but the garage and the industry are now beginning to see the cost-saving elements and the simplicity of competing with the Car of Tomorrow in the garage area.

“And I think you’ll see the continued development of the races on the racetrack getting better and better and better as we go with the close competition that we feel like the car will develop,” said Helton.

He said they were “very pleased” with how things went for NASCAR’s first-ever Busch race in Montreal last month as well as the Busch races they have held in Mexico City the past two years.

He said NASCAR will continue to discuss testing policies and the Chase format, but he said he said he feels it is important to let the Chase series “run its course before we make any decisions [about changing it] and that could take a couple of seasons.”