Clint Bowyer to join Michael Waltrip Racing from 2012 season – NASCAR news
Clint Bowyer is expected to formally announce his joining of Michael Waltrip Racing at Kansas soon.
Bowyer is out of contract with Richard Childress Racing after this season and MWR now look to have secured his services for next season.
MWR have called a press conference on Friday, October 7, 2011 at the Kansas Speedway. The conference is aimed at discussing the progress made by the organisation in the last few years. It is expected that Clint Bowyer joining the team will also be part of the agenda. Bowyer said he is in the process of finalising his contract with MWR and he hoped that it would be announced at his home track (Kansas).
This will be Bowyer’s second team in NASCAR as he has been associated with Richard Childress Racing throughout his NASCAR career. While both RCR and Bowyer wanted to stay together, there were sponsorship issues for Bowyer’s No. 33 car and team owner Richard Childress was unable to come to contract terms.
Bowyer has spent all six of his seasons as a full-time Sprint Cup driver with RCR, winning a total of four races and making the Chase three times. This season, however, Bowyer is yet to win a race and has also failed to make the Chase for the second time in three seasons. His recent performances have been impressive and MWR will be hoping he can carry that form into the next year.
Bowyer is expected to join Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann in the Sprint Cup and MWR will be hoping they can get at least one of their drivers into the Chase next year. Half of the sponsorship for Bowyer’s car is expected to come from 5-Hour Energy Drink and sponsorship for the other races is yet to be determined.
Kevin Harvick, Bowyer’s current teammate, paid tribute to Bowyer and acknowledged that he will be missed at RCR.
“I think Clint was a good asset for us because he was competitive on a weekly basis, so he brings something to the table,” Harvick said. “I've been around Clint since 2004 or 2005. So he's a good friend of mine and we've been through a lot together, so it's not something that I look at that's real positive.”
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