Q: On returning as a Chase participant:
Bowyer: “This is where you want to be. Obviously you can’t even have a chance to win a championship without being a part of the Chase, and we’re part of it.”
Q: On the role momentum may play:
Bowyer: “Just having the confidence and knowing that you’re a part of this Chase is a big, big momentum‑booster.
“Knowing now that we are in the Chase, that we are going to New Hampshire where I won last year and we’ve run well there. Dover is a good track for us. These are two places where we can get things started on the right foot. And then going into Kansas the third race of the Chase, my home track, where we almost won last year.
“These are good tracks for me in the Chase and it’s time for me to pull out all the stops and go for broke. Now that you’re in this thing, you owe it to everybody – you don’t want to be the 12th guy.”
Q: On the difference between being chased and being a target during these last 10 races:
Bowyer: “You’ve got to keep your nose to the grindstone and stay focused and that’s what’s good about this Chase. It’s only ten races long. It’s time to see what you’re made of, pull out all the stops and go for broke.
“That’s what you’re going after. You know that it’s a championship – the checkers are for records, that’s what this Chase is about.
“But you’ve got to be able to run up front. If you don’t, if you’re not running in the top five and winning races, let’s face it, you’re not going to win the championship and that’s what it’s all about.
“That’s what the Chase is about – winning the championship.”
Q: On beginning the Chase as the fifth seed:
Bowyer: “We come into this thing a little bit better than we did last year. Last year all the naysayers: ‘He’s the only one in the Chase who has not won a race,’ and now we have won a race this year and you can’t say that about us.
“We have struggled this summer. There’s no way getting around that. We are not happy with the way we have run this summer but in the last two or three weeks, things have been looking for the better … and it shows me that, hey, we can pick the program up again like we did last year and make some noise in this thing.”
| 
|