By: Matt Courson, Staff Writer
DOVER, Del. — Clint Bowyer will make his 27th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start Sunday at Dover International Speedway in the Gander RV 400. Bowyer, who has netted 14 top-10s and three top-five finishes at the Monster Mile, has never gone to Victory Lane and hopes to end that stat this time around.
“Dover is always a cool track that I think every driver looks forward to because it’s a driver’s track,” said Bowyer. “You’ve got to man up, get on top of that wheel and make things happen. There are just so many things going on there on that concrete surface and high banks. It’s a lot of fun. If you win there, you’ve earned it.”
Bowyer will make his fifth consecutive start at Dover with Stewart-Haas Racing, who has yet go to Victory Lane this season across its four drivers.
“Ever since I’ve been at SHR, we’ve seemed to have some really good cars at Dover,” he said. “We’ve been so close to taking home that Miles The Monster (a replica of the track’s 46-foot mascot) trophy. I hope we are just as good this weekend. If we are, then we have as good of chance as anyone.
“You’ve got to fight this monster every lap. I won a couple of Xfinity races there — haven’t won a Cup race — but love this racetrack.”
Bowyer was in contention to win both events at Dover in 2018. In the spring race, he led 40 laps but could not hold off a late charge by eventual race winner Kevin Harvick. And in the playoff race, Bowyer experienced a right-rear tire failure with 12 laps remaining.
Admitting the team has been off to a slow start in 2019, the No. 14 Ford has rallied in the last several races to score top-10 finishes, with the exception of Talladega. Bower was involved in a lap-11 crash
“We won’t let what happened at Talladega slow us down,” said Bowyer, who went on to also explain why there was a slow start to the 2018 season. “We’ve run well recently, but we’ve got to start closing these things out.”