I’m starting to believe that Clint Bowyer and Richard Childress are involved in a game of poker, seeing which one blinks first. While Bowyer and Childress both say their ideal situation is running the #33 car next season neither seems all too concerned with finding middle ground on a contract.
Bowyer was hoping to use the new deal that Carl Edwards got from Roush Fenway as a baseline for his future salary. Though with only 4 career wins thus far and missing the Chase for the second time in two years Bowyer is dealing with a weak hand. Lee Spencer of Foxsports.com says that Bowyer wanted a three year deal from Childress and the boss said no.
Childress claims that sponsorship is the biggest problem with signing Bowyer. Rusty Wallace says that 5 Hour Energy is looking to run 20 races with Bowyer behind the wheel.
When Childress said that the door at RCR was just about closed for Bowyer, talks suddenly picked up with the driver and Michael Waltrip Racing,
It’s hard to believe that Bowyer would rather race at MWR over RCR. Bowyer once called Waltrip “the worst driver in NASCAR period” after a wreck at Bristol between the two. The organizations current duo of Martin Truex Jr and David Reutimann hadly seem fit to fight in the equipment they’ve been provided thus far. Pat Tryson left the pitbox of Kurt Busch over at Penske in the middle of a Chase run for what he thought were greener pastures. Now Tryson has been removed as the crew chief for Truex and is looking for a new gig.
If Childress wants to run a four car team, the best driver on the market is Bowyer. Brian Vickers is a notable down grade and any talk about Mark Matin has involved part time work. If Childress doesn’t have Bowyer behind the wheel of the #33 his best option is likely Austin Dillon who is looking to make the jump to the Nationwide Series full time next year.
After contract talks with Bowyer and Waltrip heated up heading into Chicagoland, Childress was quick to say that he was still looking for sponsorship dollars for a full run next year.
I’m starting to wonder who is going to blink first in this one.
