Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

Our series of NASCAR driver interviews continues this week with Clint Bowyer, who is currently 10th in the Sprint Cup Series point standings for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Q: When you're on a long green-flag run and not racing around anyone, what do you think about?

A: I wonder if there's any debris on the racetrack.

Q: Fans often come up to you and want to discuss a moment or race that proves they've been a fan of yours for a long time. Which one comes up the most?

A: Oh, it's gotta be an Earnhardt moment. (Squints and does an impression of an old man) "Y'know, I was here when Earnhardt went three-wide and passed 98 cars to win the race at Talladega." That's how they prove to you they've been a lifelong fan.

No, I mean a fan of yours. How about a moment from your career?

Oh, a fan of mine? It's usually a (Richard Childress Racing) thing. Usually they're big RCR fans because of Earnhardt and they remember the first Nationwide races I ran for them.

Q: If someone paid you $5 million to design a new racetrack and gave you an unlimited budget, what kind of track would you build?

A: I would use $500,000 of it and build a half-mile dirt track, then buy a $4.5 million yacht with the rest and have fun. (Laughs)

Q: If you had a day off to do anything in the world you wanted — but you were not allowed to race — what would you do?

A: I'd have all the friends loaded up in the boat going somewhere to have fun. As many as the boat will hold without sinking.

How would you know how many friends that is until it's too late?

If you're taking on water, you're going to have to ask at least the newest friend to go man overboard.

Q: You get to have a lot of cool experiences away from racing through your job as a NASCAR driver. What's one that sticks out?

A: There's been a ton. I mean, going to the White House and shaking the president's hand, it doesn't get much bigger than that. The military stuff, that's meaningful when those Purple Heart members know you by name and want to come up and talk to you at Daytona. Stuff like that really makes you proud, you know?

I aired out a monster truck over 12 cars (in 2008). That was pretty badass. I've got a picture of it. ... Twelve cars I cleared!

And you made it?

Well, yeah. I mean, I'm still here.

I didn't know if there were maybe 13 cars and you only cleared 12.

(Laughs) So I just listed 12 and I was supposed to clear 13? No!

But there's endless amounts of cool stuff like that. Being able to hunt with some of the best outdoorsmen there are in the nicest hunting facilities and ranches in the country. To be able to go there — that Wagonhound place out in Douglas, Wyoming. It's 300,000 acres of the most beautiful land out there. The Realtree (Outdoors) guys load us up and take us out there for a hunt that's televised.

There are just endless perks to the job. But still, going to the racetrack is what we all live for. To be able to make a living doing something we've all been doing since we were 4 years old — I mean, you take that away from any of us, and there's a pretty big void there.

Q: When you go home after a bad day at the track, do you vent to someone about it or just keep it to yourself?

A: I Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-slam four Bud Lights, make a ham sandwich and I'm back ready to go.

Q: When your kid is running around the garage someday, which driver would you point to as a good example of how to conduct yourself?

A: That's kind of hard. Role models for kids are age-related. Once my kid is 15 years old to 20, there are going to be drivers — some of my peers — that are class acts on and off the racetrack no matter what the case is – and you hope they handle a situation like he or she would.

But running around the coach lot and things like that, that's going to be age-specific. There are going to be little hellions running around that are my peers' kids, and then there will be some good-hearted kids you hope they're running with. But you don't want them to be too good. (Grins)

Q: When you stand around with other drivers and tell old racing stories, what's one of your favorites to tell either about something that happened to yourself or someone else?

A: Usually it's about if someone screws up or gets pissed. Anger is the almighty, best, classic, laughable thing that any of us show. There's nothing more fun than to pick on somebody than when they show their ugly side. Certainly, I've had my pokes at me and it's fun to get some jabs back.

Q: What's a TV show you're really into right now?

A: We're rapidly approaching hunting season, so the Sportsman Channel is pretty much locked on from here until the end of December, which pretty much consists of my wife (Lorra) being pissed.

She doesn't get to watch her shows for awhile, I guess?

It's damn sure not the Kardashians.

Q: What's the last movie you saw – either at home or in the theater -- and was it any good?

A: Movies are weird. I'm a movie guy because I'm so ADD and wide-open all the time, it's like the one thing I can do. You come in from being outside at 9 or 10 o'clock, I can put a movie in and really wind down and focus on that and not just be sporadic and all over the place. I've always been that way about movies.

In the movie world, we hammer the Redbox all the time. You'll get on a roll where you'll find maybe a solid two months' of good movies — bam, bam, bam! — but lately it's been one after another of complete (crap).

Seriously, I think if they gave you and me three camera guys, we could come up with something better. You know that kind of movie where you sit there the whole time — starting 5 minutes into it — and you're like, "Surely, this is going (to) make sense soon?"

And then you find yourself an hour into it and you're like, "Alright, it's gotta be coming. There's no damn way they can screw up this bad for this long." Then it's rapidly approaching the end and you're like, "Wait a minute, they haven't brought this full circle."

And then all the sudden there's a black screen and the credits start coming, and you're so pissed because you blew an hour and a half of your time!

So why don't you just read the reviews before you rent the movie?

Because that'd be something you'd do, college boy. There's no reading reviews! That's cheating. Just go to the Redbox and pick it out.

My wife and I have sort of a competition going. If she picks a bad one, I'm going to make fun of her. It'll be her fault. And if I pick a bad one, she totally slams me.

And we're not batting very good right now. I had a run of two or three there that were just brutal, but then she had a couple (crappy) ones, so the score is kind of tied up.

Q: If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self — something you know now that you didn't know then — what would it be?

A: Oh man! You could get by with a couple more things a little deeper than you thought! (Laughs) I've pretty much got the most out of all of them, though.

But no, I wouldn't change anything. I've had a blast. I've had a lot of great opportunities and have been able to make some hay with them, been able to make a living doing what I love to do. I have my family close and people that I love being around, so I wouldn't change much.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Trevor Bayne and his question for you was: How has life changed since you got married?

A: It wasn't bad until the kid came (Lorra is due in late September). Now she goes to bed at like 8 o'clock and it leaves you with nothing to do except sit around. I've got a beer gut now, because there's nothing left to do. She goes to bed and you're like, "It's 8 o'clock, I can't go to bed!" So you'll pull that last beer out of the fridge or go over to the barn and (mess) around with that. That's been the biggest change.

As for the married deal, it's just this damn ring on my finger is heavier than (crap). It weighs you down, so you turn left all the time.

Q: And do you have a question for the next person?

A: (Bowyer thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a question)

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