Driver crashes car while touting new All-Star competition!

By Joe Menzer

CONCORD, N.C. -- Forgive Clint Bowyer if he needs more practice doing burnouts.

He has, after all, secured only one Sprint Cup Series victory in his young career.

His inexperience in the celebratory and heretofore largely uncelebrated art of burnouts showed Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, when Bowyer, on hand to demonstrate what will become a new competition prior to the May 17 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, lost control of his Chevrolet Monte Carlo and wrecked it.

"I had a little disagreement with the wall. It happens a lot at this place," joked Bowyer, whose only career Sprint Cup triumph came last fall at New Hampshire.

Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of LMS, added with a grin that he expects Bowyer "to pay for damages."

The inaugural Pennzoil Burnout Contest will take place on the frontstretch of the 1.5-mile LMS track at 6:15 p.m. ET, just prior to the start of the Sprint Showdown (previously known as the Nextel Open, where drivers not already qualified for the All-Star Race attempt to race their way in).

Wheeler likened the event to the Slam Dunk Contest or Three-point Shootout held during NBA's All-Star Weekend, or Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby held prior to the MLB All-Star Game.

Five drivers will participate in similarly prepared Richard Petty Driving Experience cars wrapped with Sprint All-Star Race decals. The winner, to be determined by how fast a driver can begin from a standing start and complete "a full drag racing-style, tire-smoking burnout" and two 360-degree "donuts" before reaching the designated "finish box," will earn a $10,000 prize that will go to his designated favorite charity.

Bowyer is the first driver to agree to participate, with Wheeler adding that the other four participants will be revealed at a later date.

Obviously, Bowyer has some work to do to get ready. He smashed in the right-front quarterpanel and busted the radiator on a Richard Petty Driving Experience car that had been specially prepared for him Tuesday, hitting the inside pit wall after completing a practice run of the burnout course on the frontstretch about 25 minutes before Tuesday's scheduled 11 a.m. news conference.

Bowyer was apologetic afterward, and admittedly a little embarrassed.

"These guys must go to the edge to perform at their highest level," Wheeler said.

Bowyer laughed at that observation.

"Yeah, my edge just happened to be against the wall," Bowyer said.

Bowyer knew everyone was having fun at his expense Tuesday, but that was OK. He added that the competition is supposed to be all about having a little fun anyway.

"This is a neat event. The NBA has their Slam Dunk competition, and Major League Baseball has their Home Run Derby," Bowyer said. "We've never really had anything just to have fun with. This is hopefully something we can build on for the future."