NASCAR Cup Series: Analyzing Clint Bowyer’s now-ended 190-race win drought
By Asher Fair
NASCAR Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer won for the first time in 191 races last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. What all went down during his win drought?
For the first time since the weekend before Daytona 500 qualifying and the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the NASCAR Cup Series had a full weekend off thanks to the fact that Easter was celebrated on Sunday.
As a result, Clint Bowyer is still the most recent winner in the Cup Series as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 this Sunday, April 8th after winning the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.
Bowyer’s win at Martinsville ended his career-long 190-race win drought, as his win at the track was his first win in the last 191 races dating back to the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Let’s have a look at that win drought.
Over the course of that 190-race win drought, Bowyer drove for three different teams. He finished out the 2012 season driving for Michael Waltrip Racing, and he continued driving for the team for the next three seasons before driving for HScott Motorsports in the 2016 season after being promised Tony Stewart’s ride at Stewart-Haas Racing in the 2017 season following Stewart’s retirement after the 2016 season came to an end.
In the 2017 season, Bowyer drove for Stewart-Haas Racing, and he currently drives the #14 Ford for the team this season as well.
Bowyer’s 190-race win drought was the third longest win drought among active full-time drivers in the sport before it ended with his win at Martinsville. It was the second longest win drought among active full-time drivers who have won at least one race over the course of their Cup Series careers.
Michael McDowell has never won a race in 254 career Cup Series starts, and Paul Menard has failed to win a race in each of his last 238 starts going back to the 2011 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.
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Over the course of Bowyer’s 190-race win drought, he finished in the top 5 a total of 26 times. Of those 26 top 5 finishes, 15 were podium finishes. Of those 15 podium finishes, six were 2nd place finishes, including three 2nd place finishes that took place in a 10-race span during the 2017 season in his first season driving for Stewart-Haas Racing.
In his win at Martinsville, Bowyer led 215 laps. In the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 season combined, he led only 145 laps. In fact, in his last 159 races prior to his win at Martinsville dating back to the 2013 GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, he led just 214 laps.
Bowyer ending his win drought at 190 races also made him the first driver in NASCAR history to win a race driving a Chevrolet, a Toyota and a Ford, as he won several races driving a Chevrolet when he drove for Richard Childress Racing from the 2006 season to the 2011 season, and he won several races driving a Toyota when he drove for Michael Waltrip Racing from the 2012 season to the 2015 season.
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When will Clint Bowyer win another NASCAR Cup Series race? Will he do so in any of the remaining 30 races of the 36-race 2018 season? Tune in to the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas on Sunday, April 8th at 2:00 pm ET on Fox Sports 1 to see whether or not Bowyer can win his second consecutive race.