Clint Bowyer is now a retired man. But the memories that he has made through the years as a race car driver in NASCAR, are still as fresh as they were decades ago. And the people he made those memories with cherish them to this day. One of those people is his crew chief, Brian Pattie, for whom, 2012 was a great year as it was for Bowyer.
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However, it’s not just winning races that made Pattie go back to the good old days and smile in utter contentment. Pattie said in an interview, “(Michael Waltrip Racing is) probably the best place I’ve ever worked in my career. Low-key, low-stress, fun. Obviously, Michael, even on a bad day, he will make you laugh. Cars were fast, Toyota backing back then, obviously Clint (Bowyer) behind the wheel…you know, Clint has amazing talent. He’s fast.”
Work at Michael Waltrip Racing never felt like work. Just the bond between everyone behind the garage was so special, it felt like a family working together to achieve the same goal. “You felt good going to work every day. When you left there you knew, when you came back, everyone’s gonna be the same. I don’t know how they did it,” admitted Pattie.
2012; the greatest year in Clint Bowyer’s career by far
2012 was just the first year of the veteran racer at Michael Waltrip Racing, as he had just come out of Richard Childress Racing and signed a 3-year contract with MWP. And right in his first season, Bowyer showed incredible promise by bagging 3 victories, 10 top 5, and 13 top 10 finishes.
2012 also witnessed Bowyer’s first road course win and his first triumph at a 1.5-mile track at the Cup level (then-Sprint Cup Series). Nevertheless, perhaps his win at Sonoma was the biggest highlight of his career that year.
The race was in June. Bowyer started sixth. But it didn’t take him long to gain spots to lead 71 laps of the 110-lap event. With seasoned and competitive drivers like Kurt Busch dooring and Tony Stewart tailing him, Bowyer easily held off the two and crossed the start-finish line. And all of that happened during the final two laps. Listening to what his then-crew chief said about his stellar season, Bowyer reposted the interview and wrote, “We kicked ass and I promise ya, no one had more fun than we did that year.”
Remarkably, Bowyer finished second in overall points that year.
