Checkers or wreckers—that’s usually how it goes in racing. But sometimes you get both, like NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer did on Saturday night. While riding a Supercross bike.
Since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Monster Energy Supercross both wound up near Atlanta this weekend, four NASCAR drivers—Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon—went out to the Georgia Dome in order to run a friendly Supercross competition before their own race on Sunday. Fellow driver Danica Patrick held the sign signaling the countdown to the gate drop.
The competition consisted of simply the holeshot, which is the race to—not into—the first corner. Bowyer looked as if he planned to head into that corner after winning the race, but wound up hitting a tuff-block barrier instead:
Bowyer, who raced dirt bikes as a kid, took a close win over Biffle before wiping out into the barrier. In the post-race interview, Bowyer said he aimed for the barrier since he “knew [he] wasn’t going to make the corner.” The race ended before the corner and everyone else managed to stop, but that’s OK.
Whether he’s competing on a bike or telling us all how he really feels about putting on “some cute show for whatever the hell this is” in NASCAR qualifying, Bowyer never fails to be entertaining. And, if anything, he probably hopes his left turns will have better results at Atlanta Motor Speedway this afternoon.
Contact the author at alanis.king@jalopnik.com.