By Jerry Jordan, Editor
LAS VEGAS – The last time Clint Bowyer won a NASCAR pole in the Cup Series was exactly 12 years ago at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but that streak was broken Saturday as he went out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and topped the field with a 178.926 mph lap.
“Beats the hell out of me guys, I am as shocked as you are,” Bowyer said. “It is tons of fun. Obviously bragging rights for the guys first and foremost and I am extremely proud of the effort. Hey, we sit on the pole but look, my gosh, 1-2-3-4 for Stewart-Haas Racing and I think that shows a lot about our hard work, dedication and focus on the qualifying lap. Now, that being said, what does that mean for tomorrow? I think we have seen in our sport before that cars that are bad fast on Saturday or on qualifying day sometimes can’t hold it for 400 miles. That is going to be a tall order for tomorrow.”
As Bowyer pointed out it was a great day for the entire Stewart-Haas Racing organization with Daniel Suarez starting second followed by Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola rounding out the Top 4, respectively. An accomplishment the team pulled off earlier this year at Kansas Speedway, but two of the SHR cars failed post-qualifying inspection. SHR did run 1-2-3-4 in qualifying last year at Talladega Superspeedway.
Bowyer recalled the last time he was on the pole and said it was a much different time in his personal and professional life.
“Man, I had Jack Daniels for a sponsor back then,” he said. “Let me tell you, that day was celebrated roughly. Yeah, those were the days. Thank God I was younger back then. I remember going to that race track which was a good race track for us and having a lot of confidence knowing that we could take care of business and unloaded off the track extremely fast and it started off the Chase and we sat on the pole and kicked their ass that day. It was a ton of fun. I didn’t remember that it was this exact day 12 years ago but I certainly remember that day and that win and what it meant to me and my family. It was literally the answer to everything we had ever wanted.”
Bowyer explained that even though it is great to be on the pole and it does carry momentum into Sunday’s South Point 400, it doesn’t necesarrily translate over into speed during the race. Attitude is one thing but performance but being able to make it to the end ahead of the field won’t be an easy task. In fact, only once during the past 23 years at LVMS has a driver ever won from the pole. Kyle Busch did it in March 2009 and Bowyer had his own take of why that was the case.
“Well it turns out he is pretty decent,” Bowyer said. “There is fixing to be two tomorrow. It is hard, man. The fastest car doesn’t win the race more often than not when you look at our sport. That just goes to show you all the things and all the components that go in to finding success on any given Sunday on any given weekend on any given racetrack. It is always different. The same recipe that will apply this weekend in Las Vegas won’t apply next weekend in Richmond or again the following week in Charlotte. The only things that do apply are confidence, momentum, hard work and dedication and seeing all those through and putting all those pieces together.”
Bowyer is hopeful he can capitalize on the great start for LVMS and use it to propel him into a position to advance to Round 2 of NASCAR’s playoffs.
“We have great racetracks coming up in this first round,” he said. “They are good tracks for me, back in my wheelhouse where I am comfortable and confident racing. This one is the question mark of the first three for me. My team has helped me answer some of that and fix some of that question mark with an exclamation point with qualifying up front, for sure.”
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 2nd Annual South Point 400 – Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1. (14) Clint Bowyer (P) @, Ford, 178.926 mph.
2. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 178.873 mph.
3. (4) Kevin Harvick (P) @, Ford, 178.772 mph.
4. (10) Aric Almirola (P) @, Ford, 178.501 mph.
5. (1) Kurt Busch (P) @, Chevrolet, 178.112 mph.
6. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 177.830 mph.
7. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 177.317 mph.
8. (9) Chase Elliott (P) @, Chevrolet, 177.264 mph.
9. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 177.119 mph.
10. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 177.107 mph.
11. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 176.893 mph.
12. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 176.869 mph.
13. (11) Denny Hamlin (P) @, Toyota, 176.823 mph.
14. (24) William Byron (P) @, Chevrolet, 176.661 mph.
15. (42) Kyle Larson (P) @, Chevrolet, 176.528 mph.
16. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 176.384 mph.
17. (6) Ryan Newman (P) @, Ford, 176.367 mph.
18. (2) Brad Keselowski (P) @, Ford, 176.361 mph.
19. (88) Alex Bowman (P) @, Chevrolet, 176.355 mph.
20. (18) Kyle Busch (P) @, Toyota, 176.280 mph.
21. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 176.056 mph.
22. (22) Joey Logano (P) @, Ford, 176.045 mph.
23. (12) Ryan Blaney (P) @, Ford, 175.861 mph.
24. (19) Martin Truex Jr. (P) @, Toyota, 175.776 mph.
25. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 175.747 mph.
26. (20) Erik Jones (P) @, Toyota, 175.667 mph.
27. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 175.655 mph.
28. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 175.473 mph.
29. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 175.279 mph.
30. (00) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 175.103 mph.
31. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 174.797 mph.
32. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 174.042 mph.
33. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 173.740 mph.
34. (52) Garrett Smithley(i), Ford, 171.914 mph.
35. (51) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 171.903 mph.
36. (53) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 171.222 mph.
37. (77) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 170.068 mph.
38. (27) Joe Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, 168.382 mph.
39. (66) Joey Gase(i), Toyota, 168.298 mph.