How Clint Bowyer Was Robbed Of His Prime

After 2012, it looked like Clint Bowyer would soon become a future champion. He was coming off a second-place finish in that year’s points after a points penalty he incurred for his fight with Jeff Gordon in the penultimate race of 2012. He had shown this kind of potential when he was on MWR.

With multiple clutch runs in the Chase, he had given him a few wins and a couple of top-five points finishes. Now that he has shown he could be a twenty-plus top-tens-in-a-season kind of driver, it shows he was putting in the work to make that potential blossom. And now on MWR, a team built around him, not around Harvick, a title was inevitable for Bowyer.

The Damage Spingate Did To MWR And Bowyer

Then Spingate happened. Coming into Richmond, the driver of the 15 wasn’t having the year he had last year. Clint was still a title threat. He came into the Virginia-based track second in points despite not having a single win that year.

But Richmond was a track he’s won at before, so he was looking to change that this Richmond night. Until Lap 393, when things changed for the worse. That year’s Richmond race was the regular-season finale back before the Chase started for the final ten races of the season.

And while Bowyer had easily locked in his spot, his MWR teammate Martin Truex Jr was still on the outside looking in but was oh so close to locking in a spot in the dying laps of the regular season. So MWR came up with a plan, a terrible, not very well thought-out, obvious plan.

They told Bowyer they had to get MTJ into the Chase, and laps later, his spotter asked if his arms itched. Almost immediately after, Bowyer then spun in a way that made commentators question if he did it on purpose. Which he did.MWR then told the third MWR driver, Brian Vickers, to pit one lap before the race restarted.

A highly unusual move. It did get MTJ into the Chase, but it earned NASCAR’s suspicion. And Bowyer’s interview didn’t help either. He might be the worst liar on this planet. His giant frown and wide eyes look to the far left, making sure you didn’t need a psych degree to see he was lying.

Spingate’s Heavy Consequences

The punishment from NASCAR was severe, swift, and would destroy the up-and-coming team. A record fine of $300,000 was levied against owner Michael Waltrip, plus Ty Norris, the team’s executive vice president and general manager, was suspended indefinitely (he was later reinstated in January 2014).

All three MWR crew chiefs (Brian Pattie, Scott Miller, and Chad Johnston) were placed on probation until the end of the year. All three MWR cars (the No. 15, No. 55, and No. 56) were penalized with the loss of 50 championship driver and 50 championship owner points.

And Martin Truex Jr. was removed from the “Chase for the Sprint Cup” (now the playoffs) field, with his spot given to Ryan Newman. Jeff Gordon was also added as a 13th driver because money.

The fallout from all these punishments would be severe, too. NAPA Auto Parts, the primary sponsor for Truex Jr.’s car, announced it would end its multimillion-dollar sponsorship at the conclusion of the season, two years early. And the 56 team would shut down as a result.

MWR’s Demise and Bowyer’s Bottom Out

By the time 2014 ended, it was obvious how much the scandal had affected Toyota’s second-best team. They went from almost contending for a title with three cars to two cars regularly racing in the midpack.

With Bowyer going from ten top fives, 19 top tens, and an average finish of 11.9, to having five top tens, 15 top tens, and an average finish of 17.1 the next year. And barely squeaking in to the now 16-car playoff.

Bowyer didn’t forget how to drive, as his teammate Vickers shows. Vickers was part-time with MWR in 2013, and in his 14 starts that year, he earned a win at New Hampshire and recorded 5 top-10s. Now, in 2014, doing a full 36-race schedule, he didn’t win and only had nine top tens. That doesn’t map, does it? ,

Things only got worse in 2015. Bowyer only had 2 top fives and 12 top tens, with his average finish going further downhill, but he did manage to squeak into the playoffs. 16th in points for the second year in a row. But this would prove to be the end.

As MWR shut down at the end of 2015. Due to not finding enough sponsorship after Spingate to keep up their now two-car operation. The team went down in NASCAR infamy forever and leaving Bowyer without a home, except not really.

Bowyer’s Wasted Year at HScott!

According to the contract he signed with his old team, Bowyer and his sponsor, 5-Hour Energy, were assigned to the #15 car, not MWR. So HScott flipped the #51 around to the #15, and like that, Bowyer and Five Hour Energy were now a part of HScott Motorsports.

Now, Bowyer really signed with Stewart-Haas Racing’s #14 car to replace co-owner Tony Stewart. But he was on his retirement tour for 2016, plus, there weren’t any good rides open for 2016, so Bowyer didn’t buy out his deal and decided to race with the team that only earned a single top ten in their two full-time seasons before they signed Clint.

So for HScott, the season was a revolution, but for Bowyer, it was the worst year of his career. He got three top tens in total, the only year in his career when he had fewer than 10 top tens in a year. And he finished 27th in the final standings.

Bowyer’s SHR Resurgence

Bowyer did land back on his feet with SHR replacing Stewart, but he never reached the heights he had in 2012 again. He returned to the playoffs in his first year in the 14, but it took him another season to finally return to victory lane. Eventually, doing so at Martinsville.

By the time Bowyer signed with SHR, the package had changed significantly, and he was nearly 40. So while he was competitive and made the playoffs numerous times, he never contended for another title again.

And because of Spingate, he spent his prime years doing everything he could to outdrive his equipment instead of chasing wins. And we’ll never know if he would’ve become a champion. Thanks a bunch for reading!