2015 NASCAR Buy or Sell: Clint Bowyer

Buy or Sell Clint Bowyer's 2015 Chase Chances

By Richard Tix

Week 22 (21 races in)

Let's continue on the current trend of Buy or Sell drivers and there Chase chances. This week we move onto Clint Bowyer who at the moment is streaking in the right direction. Previously we had Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Gordon. The first driver now looks like a lock (Busch), the second needs a win (Gordon), and the third is a toss up but heading in the wrong direction (Kahne).

Clint Bowyer maybe one of the biggest toss ups to date in this Buy or Sell column. Ever since "spin gate" MWR and Bowyer just never seemed to get it's momentum back. That was in 2013 and we are now entering an era where MWR will be seeing changes. So, 2015 may be the last time we think of MWR the way it is right now and it might be the last time Bowyer makes a Chase run with this exact team. So, below are the reasons you should Buy in or Sell on his Chase chances.

Current 2015 Chase Standings

Reason's to Buy In

• Right now Clint Bowyer is 40 point to the good over 17th in the standings. He is actually 15th in the points after being the 16th driver last week. So, he is trending in the right direction and giving himself some breathing room to spare. He is also only 10 points behind 14th in the standings. 
• Right now Clint Bowyer is trending up. In the last four races he had 3 top 10's. Since Dover (9 races) he has six top 10's. Bowyer only has 8 top 10's on the season (21 races) so they maybe onto something. JGR Toyota's have been on fire so it might be trickling down to MWR. 
• Watkins Glen is on tap this weekend where Bowyer has made strides in recent years. After that NASCAR heads to MIS where Clint has 9 straight top 10's right now (longest active MIS streak). After that we are onto Bristol where Bowyer normally doesn't finish worse than the top 15. Darlington is nothing special for Bowyer but the last stop before the Chase is Richmond which is one of his best tracks (2 career wins). So, he has a lot of decent tracks coming up on the schedule that should keep him in contention.
• The biggest of those tracks is Richmond. Ironically Richmond is the location of "Spin-Gate." He has two career wins, four top 5's, and eleven top 10's in 19 career starts. So, he could come up big and win the last race of the regular season.

Reason's to Sell

• Five races remain before the Chase (Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Darlington, and Richmond). Out of those five he has only won at one of them (twice), Richmond. If it comes down to Bowyer needing a win those are some pretty bad odds of him winning.
• Speaking of odds of winning, Clint Bowyer is on a 98 race streak without a win. His last Cup win was 2012 at Charlotte in the Fall. 2012 was also the only season he has had a win while with Michael Waltrip Racing (three total in 2012). Can a lot of trust be put into him at this point?
• Kyle Busch will push Bowyer back down to 16th in points as soon as he reaches the top 30 and takes a Chase spot, so he will be on the hot seat week to week. Bowyer currently only has 1 top 5 finish so far through 21 races. Clint may need to run up front a lot to lock a spot in via points so he will need to turn it up a notch to do so.
• The fact that the cut line is realistically at his position right now (because Kyle Busch will make the Chase) is the biggest concern. Last year only two drivers got in on points. Now, I do think more guys will get in on points than 2014, that doesn't mean it will 6 like it currently is right now. He either needs to be very consistent or find a way to win down the stretch to be comfortable for the next five races.