KANSAS CITY, KAN. (AP) - Clint Bowyer figured he’d try his hand at selling cars this week instead of driving them.
The popular driver from Emporia, Kan., about a 90-minute drive south of Kansas Speedway, was home this week to celebrate the grand opening of Clint Bowyer Autoplex _ formerly known as Emporia Motors, the dealership where he worked doing dent repairs before getting his big break.
Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip and Darrell Waltrip joined him on his visit to Emporia.
“Had a lot of fun,” Bowyer said. “Meant a lot to me to lean on peers, my teammate Mark Martin showed up. It’s incredible when you’re sitting next to your childhood heroes, DW sitting next to you in your home town. … Just meant a lot to me having those guys there.”
Bowyer began his racing career at Thunderhill Speedway in Mayetta, Kan., and Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, a short drive from where he’ll start the Sprint Cup race on Sunday.
He quickly moved up through the ranks, but still considers Kansas his home, and he’d love nothing more than to finally get his first win on the 1 1/2-mile tri-oval.
“I was off last weekend, we were off as a race team,” Bowyer said of his 15th-place run at Texas. “(Martin) Truex was very fast and Mark and I struggled pretty bad all weekend long for three days. Kind of concerns you going into a track that you’ve run well at, that’s been somewhat good to you. More importantly, it’s home and it’s important to run well at.”
Bowyer has four top-10 finishes at Kansas Speedway with a career best of second in 2007, and he led five laps before finishing sixth in the fall race last season.
As for selling cars, well, Bowyer plans to stick with driving them for now.
He’s planning to make several renovations to his new car dealership, but will leave day-to-day operations to Davis-Moore Auto Group out of Wichita while he continues his racing career.
“Personally I sold one,” Bowyer said proudly, recalling his dealership trip to Emporia. “I’m one and done. I sold one and they informed me we didn’t do very well so I’ll leave the car selling to the professionals that know how to sell cars.”
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