Clint Bowyer is proving you don't need to win races or even lead many laps to contend for a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
The driver of the No. 15 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing has hovered around the top of the points standings all year long by doing things the old-fashioned way: logging laps and racking up consistent finishes.
Heading into Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol, Tenn., Bowyer sits a comfortable second in the points and can clinch a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a finish of 12th or better. If he leads a lap - something he's only done four times all year and only once since May - Bowyer can guarantee himself a playoff spot with a 13th-place finish. If he manages to lead the most laps, something he's yet to accomplish this season, Bowyer only needs to finish 14th to lock himself into NASCAR's post-season.
Bowyer has fought for every one of the 772 points he's scored this year and Sunday's race at Michigan provides the perfect example. After falling to 40th as a result of spinning out on the very first lap of the race, Bowyer had to work his way through the field in a track known for having only one good grove since it was repaved.
He did just that, combining excellent driving with mistake-free trips down pit road to meticulously work his way through the field and finish fifth.
It's been the same story every week for Bowyer. He might make one mistake, like the early spin last week, but Bowyer and his team almost never make multiple errors in the same race.
Although he's rarely in contention to score a win, he's always hanging out up front. Through 23 races, Bowyer has finished in the top-five eight times, including a pair of second-place finishes, and in the top-10 13 times. He's only been out of the top-20 twice this year and both those races were back in March.
His consistency this season comes on the heels of his second-place finish in the Chase last year, his best result in the eight years he's been running a full Sprint Cup schedule.
He won three races in 2012, but two of those victories came in the final 11 weeks of the season. A similar strong finish this year could give him a shot at his first title.
With a berth in the Chase virtually secured, getting a win in one of the next three races would give Bowyer's championship aspirations a big boost. As things stand six of the drivers in the top 10 have at least one win so far this year, so Bowyer is currently in position to start the chase in a five-way tie for seventh.
"Right now [making the Chase is] nothing more than a little bit of a pat on the back for being able to accomplish the consistency it takes to run up front during the regular season," Bowyer told reporters this week. "In a few weeks' time the points are going to reset and it's not going to matter where I am in the standings at that point."
The tight confines of Bristol Motor Speedway always makes for physical racing and unpredictable results, but Bowyer has had recent success at a track he calls a motor sports "coliseum." He finished fifth in the spring race and has placed in the top 10 in his last three visits to the track.
Another top 10 seems likely, but a win would be a real breakthrough.
