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THE SEASON: If Clint Bowyer had wanted to throw in the towel for a season after team owner Richard Childress completely destroyed his previously successful team, I'm not sure many people could have blamed him.After all, Bowyer entered 2009 after earning wins for the No. 07 in each of the previous two seasons to go along with two straight top-5 finishes in the point standings. In 2007, Bowyer was the only driver with a legitimate shot to overtake Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in the closing races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup
But with the addition of Casey Mears to the RCR lineup for 2009, team owner Childress decided to move Mears to Bowyer's previously successful No. 07 team and put Bowyer into a brand new No. 33 ride, complete with a new crew chief and pit crew.
The results, as is obvious by his his early appearance in the Rewind, weren't what anybody was hoping for -- though blame for the poor performance mainly falls on an organization-wide struggle of a season.
Bowyer's 15th-place final standing was the worst he's seen since a 17th in his rookie season, and 2009 also saw the Emporia, Kan., native go winless for the first time since his 2006 rookie campaign. The bad results didn't show their face immediately, but after four top-10s in the first six races, Bowyer didn't have another one for nearly two and a half months.
The finishes did improve, though, as Bowyer finished in the top-20 for each of the final seven races. And for the record, Mears -- in Bowyer's old No. 07 -- wrapped the season with a 21st in the standings.
THE STATISTICS:
Best Finish - 2nd, Las Vegas
Worst Finish - 39th, Talladega
Top-5s - 4
Top-10s - 16
Total Laps Led - 41
Percent of Laps Completed - 96.8
THE FUTURE: As with his teammates Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick, Bowyer is certainly back with RCR in 2010 with General Mills -- generally Cheerios -- on board the No. 33. Mears' future with the team is in doubt due to sponsorship.
If you had asked Bowyer about his prospects for 2010 in, say, July he would have probably been a little less positive than he is today. But thanks to a finish of the season that saw he and his RCR counterparts qualify and finish better, his glass is looking a little more full.
Expect Bowyer -- with Harvick presumably leaving after 2010 -- to lead the RCR charge next season as what I'd say will be a definite return for Bowyer into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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