Bowyer hoping for continued Sonoma success

Clint Bowyer couldn't be happier that the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series visits one of his best tracks this weekend, Sonoma Raceway.

"It's been three weeks in a row of letdowns," Bowyer said Friday. "We've had fast cars. Bugga (crew chief Mike Bugarewicz) has brought solid, solid racecars and haven't been able to get the finishes the last three weeks. We need a turnaround and I can't think of a better track for me personally to do that."

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The No. 14 team hasn't had a top-10 finish since May 13 at Kansas Speedway. The last three weeks – Dover, Pocono and Michigan – Bowyer has finished no better than 17th, with last week's 26th-place finish perhaps the most disappointing. Bowyer had a top 10, even a top-five car before he slapped the wall late in the race.

Sitting 12th in points as the series tackles its first road course on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1), Bowyer joked he hopes lightning strikes twice: lightning as in the Lightning McQueen paint scheme he's sporting this weekend for "Cars 3," the same theme Kyle Larson won with at Michigan.

As for how the 12-turn course became one of his better venues, Bowyer isn't sure. However, Bowyer is second best in the series with an average finish of 11.5 in his 11 career starts. That was slightly dampened last year when he had an electrical issue five laps into the race and picked up his first DNF.

Bowyer also has eight top 10s and six top fives and a third-best driver rating of 90.2. In addition to 82 laps led at Sonoma, Bowyer even picked up a win while driving for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012.

"The win was a shocker," Bowyer said on figuring out road racing.

Another win would do Bowyer well.

Not locked into the playoffs through a victory, Bowyer is not even on the playoff grid currently because of his position in the points. And when it comes to his team's overall performance, Bowyer said it's been solid but they need to be better.

"You need to improve everywhere," Bowyer said. "It seems like today's day and age your cars have to unload fast and even on a short track somehow, someway that relates to a 1.5-mile track these days. It used to not be that way. You used to have your bread and butter. My whole career was short tracks. Then I qualified third last weekend at Michigan.

"It's all about the team, those race cars and making them as fast as possible. That goes for aero, having the right setup underneath with simulation and everything. Everything has to be perfect. It's so much more competitive than 10 years ago when I came into this sport. You can't have a down area. You can't have a weak link. It's all across the board that has to be 100 percent perfect."