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If you could be a NASCAR Cup driver this year would you rather be Clint Bowyer or Jamie McMurray? Think about that.

McMurray’s 2010 record is too inconsistent to challenge for the Championship. But he has visited the Winner’s Circle on a pair of occasions. And they were huge events.

He paced the field to the checkered flag in the biggest stock car race in the world. Last February on a chilly Sunday evening, McMurray crossed the finish line first in the Daytona 500. Bringing about an effusive response from the pit crew and literal tears from the driver in post race interviews. There are some sports fans that watch just one single race all year. And McMurray won it.

Richard Childress Racing must be feeling that stomach knot unwind after the Cup Series race Sunday. Largely uncompetitive for 2009, the new season is off to a strong start. RCR stepped into the spotlight and held a starring role.

The Childress organization left Daytona one year ago with strong showings and a positive outlook. That was about the last positive energy the racing team had for several months. Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Casey Mears struggled on the racetrack week after week.

Without knowing the exact nuts and bolts of how the cars were constructed it is difficult to say what went wrong. As a group, RCR admitted part-way through the year that it had tried some new things in an effort to gain an advantage. Its plans resulted in the opposite effect.

I happen to believe that celebrities have the right to say whatever the hell they want; further, I tend to think that if an actor or an athlete feels strongly enough about an issue, he or she should use their higher profile to focus attention on it. Think: Lance Armstrong and cancer. Still, there are exceptions to every rule: Ladies and gentlemen, Clint Bowyer!

Clint Bowyer has been running at the finish of 80 consecutive Sprint Cup series races (that's him, not finishing, left). Yawn. Bowyer's streak leads all active drivers and is just one -- just one! -- behind the record held by his teammate, Kevin Harvick. Yeah, whatever.
 

Someone over at Richard Childress Racing is working the whole Let's get our guys on TV thing hard. Really, really hard. And while Clint Bowyer did an admirable job portraying himself in this week's episode of The Biggest Loser, he came across a little stiff -- word is, even his mother thinks that teammate Jeff Burton plays himself way better.