Drivers to Watch: Michael Waltrip Racing

Martin Truex Jr. at Bristol, August 2012
Photo Credit: Genevieve Cadorette  

This weekend NASCAR heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the first Chase race. The final 12 men are ready for some action.

Michael Waltrip Racing is in the "play-offs" for the first time and has two drivers in contention: Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. It wasn’t long ago, 2007 to be exact, that MWR opened its doors for a Cup series team and this has been the organization's best season to date.

Truex Jr.'s first win was at his home track of Dover in 2007. To date, he 's still looking for that second victory.  Now he's seeded 10th entering the Chase with six top fives and 14 top 10s this season. That is more top 10 finishes than Denny Hamlin (13), Kevin Harvick (11) or Tony Stewart (12) has in 2012. Although he's only had one top ten in Chicago, he's been strong at Texas, Kansas, Martinsville and last season he finished third at Homestead.

Bowyer joined MWR this year and it's been a good season for him with two wins, six top fives and 15 top 10s.  He won at Richmond last weekend and heads to Chicago seeded sixth. Although he hasn’t won at Chicagoland yet, Bowyer has one top five and five top 10s at the speedway.

The Chase schedule visits two types of venues early on where Bowyer does well: the one-mile tracks of New Hampshire and Dover and a superspeedway, Talladega. He has two wins at New Hampshire and finished third there last July. In June, he brought home a fifth place finish at Dover and he has two wins at Talladega.

Clint Bowyer at Martinsville, April 1, 2012
Photo Credit: Genevieve Cadorette

Let's play "Caption This" with this photo of Clint Bowyer. Just for fun, leave your caption suggestion in the comments section.