No. 15 RK Motors Toyota driver Clint Bowyer and Crew Chief Brian Pattie are in their second season together at Michael Waltrip Racing. Their first season culminated in a runner-up finish for the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup. The pair heads to Pocono Raceway this weekend in third-place in the standings ahead of their 2012 pace in top-fives, top-10s, laps led and seven spots higher in the point standings.
BRIAN PATTIE ON POCONO:“The three distinct corners make Pocono a challenge. They pose a problem setting cars up, so we just try to pick the corners that we can pass going into and get good speed going down the straightaways. The speeds are way up since the repave. The track is way smoother so that changes the setup a lot from previous years. Hopefully the winter up there has done the track some good and given it some character so we can get a little more grip. That’d help with the racing.”
PATTIE ON BOWYER:“Clint adapts to the racetrack. He’s willing to move around and not get fixated on one line around the racetrack. Obviously when track conditions change he is one of the first ones to move around and find speed. When things are good we’re happy. When things are bad we get pissed off. We want everything to be perfect and most of the time it is, but when it’s not we both get angry at the same time and the same situations. I think our tolerance level is the same. In certain situations or events we act the same way.”
BOWYER ON PATTIE:“I don’t know that there is just one thing that he’s best at – he is good at so many different things. He is a good leader. His workers and crew respect him. They enjoy working with him. I enjoy working with him. He is just a great leader and calls a very good race. He builds fast racecars. He is just the total package as far as I’m concerned.
“I think in a lot of ways we are alike. In terms of personality and temperament – all those things. We are racers that want to win and determined to get there. We are not satisfied with second best and we drive to get better each and every week. And I think we are both realists – we don’t think we are something that we’re not or believe in something that’s not true. We both go out there and understand what we got for a racecar, understand what we got for a situation and have a game plan going into the race of what we need out of that race, that changes. Obviously we want to win each and every week, but with this level of competition that’s just not possible. You have to be able to make good decisions to get the best results possible and keep yourself in the running for this thing. The way that the points work out is all about the Chase. And that’s the last races of the year – not the first races.”
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