Clint Bowyer's Comments
|
Posted by Jeremy Dunn Oct 15, 2007 |
The latest trend for NASCAR owners has been to hire an open wheel star based on his open wheel credentials alone.
Chip Ganassi hired Juan Pablo Montoya in 2006, and more recently Dario Franchitti. Bill Davis has hired Jacques Villenueve and Gillett Evernham Motorsports has hired Patrick Carpentier. And it is not just the international drivers. Last year, Red Bull Racing hired A.J. Allmendinger. Penske Racing has recently fielded cars for Sam Hornish, however he has yet to qualify for a Cup event.
Is this the way to go? Montoya has been impressive at times, but he has endured growing pains. And it is hard to imagine those drivers adapting as well as Montoya has.
Clint Bowyer put it all into perspective when speaking about this latest trend.
“A lot of guys who make a lot of money in other sports are coming over here... I think it’s good for our sport. I just don’t want to see young drivers like myself lose chances of getting here because of a big name getting a freebie. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication on a lot of people’s parts. … I hate to see too many of those spots taken by people with a big name who have already been successful in other sports and just think ‘Hey, let’s try this out, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t,’” said Bowyer.
Jimmie Johnson feels that these former open wheel stars have a ways to go before they can call themselves NASCAR stars.
"It’s going to take years for these guys to be competitive. I think restrictor-plate racing and road-course racing will come easily for them, and I think you can look at Juan’s stats and we all feel that Juan’s done a great job coming in. "
