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Phoenix: Bowyer - Thursday media visit

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 DIRECTV IMPALA SS met with media and discussed the strength of RCR, his accident with Denny Hamlin last week at TMS, the importance of engines, and more. HOW DO YOU THINK YOU ARE RUNNING AND HOW WILL THIS RACE TRACK SHAPE ...

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 DIRECTV IMPALA SS met with media and discussed the strength of RCR, his accident with Denny Hamlin last week at TMS, the importance of engines, and more.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU ARE RUNNING AND HOW WILL THIS RACE TRACK SHAPE UP FOR YOU? "I love coming to Phoenix. I won a Busch race here. It's a racy race track and I think everybody loves that. Practice was not bad for the Directv Chevrolet. I guess we're going out first (in qualifying) so we'll just try to do the best we can with that. I think I'm going to fire the guy who has been drawing for us (laughs). Other than that, things have been going good and we've been having fun."

ON LAST WEEK'S FINISH AT TEXAS: "Oh, it was my fault. There ain't no way of getting around it. I just pushed up into him (Denny Hamlin) and we hit and it turned me into the wall. He tried to lift. It's just racing. You can't expect him to back out and let me have it and you can't expect me to back out and let him have it. You've got 300 -- 400 feet to the finish line. I just got the bad end of the stick that time. It's been that way my whole career. You give me a shot up off of (Turn) 4 racing with somebody and I'm going to take it."

ON RCR DRIVERS BEING ON TOP IN POINTS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGINES "Horsepower is very important. You can't compete for championships on the hook, by any means. The engine department has done an exceptional job of making sure we have good horsepower, but making sure it will last throughout the weekend and throughout the race. That's number one key. When you go to engine guys and performance you want to push the envelope as much as you can, but Richard (Childress) has always been conservative in that aspect that making sure it's going to live throughout the race. Knock on wood. We've had no trouble so far. That's the key to racing for a championship is consistency right there is being consistent week in and week out."

ON THE STRENGH OF RCR "We've got to get better but obviously we've come a long way. I've very proud of everybody at RCR for putting together equipment that makes Jeff (Burton) and Kevin (Harvick) and me look good. But we've got a long ways to go. We're not going to sit back and watch it happen, we're going to make it happen."

ON HIS REACTION TO AARON FIKE AND THE DRUG ISSUE "I was just as shocked as everybody else. This is very bizarre. It's a shame. It's a shame that everybody works so hard and a few bad apples have to spoil it for everybody.

"NASCAR has done a good job at making this sport what it is today and if they want to change the policy they have put in place, I'm all for it. It's the same for everybody. We've all got to abide by the rules and we're all given an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to make a living doing what we love to do and I'm not about to let something stupid get in the way of that."

-credit: gm racing

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