Sunday, February 15, 2015

Clint Bowyer goes off on NASCAR about Daytona group qualifying

   Q.  What do you see and what were you thinking when you were behind the 44?

   CLINT BOWYER:  I wasn't behind the 44.  He came flying around, come up on the apron, jumps in front of me, then runs over the 51, stacks us all up and then I run into him.  It's idiotic to be out here doing this anyway.  There's no sense in being able to try to put on some cute show for whatever the hell this is.  Then you have a guy out there doing this in desperation. 

   There's no reason to be out here.  These guys have spent six months working on these cars, busting their butts on these cars. But it ain't his fault.  It's NASCAR's fault for putting us out in the middle of this crap for nothing. 

   We used to come down here and worry about who would set on the front pole in the biggest race of the year.  Now all we do is come down here and worry about how a start‑and‑park like this out of desperation is going to knock us out of the Daytona 500. 

   We've been in meetings for 45 minutes just trying to figure out what in the hell everybody is going to do just so we can make the race.  It's stupid.  There's no sense in doing this.

What Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano each said about their post-race face-off

   After the checkered flag waved in Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano began slamming into each other as they headed down pit road. Once there, they engaged in a sometimes-heated conversation which otherwise ended without incident. 

   Here is what each driver said about what prompted the run-in:

   Harvick: “He just drove us straight in the fence. Everybody is trying to be aggressive, but you still have to know when and where you can do things. You can’t just drive somebody in the fence. I’m just disappointed for my guys on my Jimmy John’s team just for the fact that they worked hard to get their car back where it needed to be. And then just one of those deals where you just know that is going to work. Whether it is an all-star race or not, it doesn’t really matter, you can’t just take your head off and throw it on the floor board and not use your brain.” 

   (What was particularly frustrating?)  “There was no frustration it was good hard speedway racing, but he (Joey Logano) hooked me halfway down the backstretch and then just literally drove me in the corner until I hit the fence. I have had a few issues with him on the speedways. You can’t just take your head off and detach it and throw it on the floor board and not use your brain. It’s an all-star race, but you still have to have some common sense.” 

   (Will this carry over at all?) “No, like I told him (Joey Logano) last year that kind of stuff catches up with you. It caught up with him last year and you can only do things like that so long before it catches up with you.”

   Logano:  “That is Kevin (Harvick) just being an instigator just like everywhere else. It is a new year and the same stuff. I was trying to help really, to be honest with you, we had a run and I was pushing. I was doing the same thing with the No. 78 all night and it was working. We got in the corner and he got tight and he got into the fence. I was trying to help. He just doesn’t understand I was trying to help. I understand his frustration but I was trying to help out and get to the front and try to win this thing. There are no points or anything like that so you go for the win.” 

   (What was your side of things on pit road?) “I was truly trying to help. It is just the same old stuff with him. I was trying to work my way back up there and had a good run on the backstretch pushing him and when he got in the corner his car got tight. I know he has a lot of damage on his car too and that could have been why too. I was doing it with the 78 all day and keeping ourselves up there. Unfortunately he hit the fence. It wasn’t on purpose, I was trying to get to the front. All-Star races like this mean nothing unless you win so you go for it.”