Clint Bowyer reacts to disappointing NASCAR return in Nashville: 'Shit happens'

Clint Bowyer was hoping for a triumphant victory in his return to the NASCAR Truck Series at Nashville Superspeedway, but a P17 after a night filled with trouble had him disappointed.

Due to some damage sustained during Stage 2, Bowyer never was able to march to the front like he would’ve liked. In the end, he felt like he let a lot of people down, including Spire Motorsports, who provided him with the truck to run on Friday evening.

Afterwards, Bowyer took to social media to relay his chagrin, but also give some thanks to the group of people who made the evening happen for him.

Well damn, not what I was hoping for. Shit happens. Made a mistake and stalled in pitbox and then payed the price on restart. Cover it every week, mistakes are what make the difference. Appreciate @SpireMotorsport, Brian Pattie, and everyone on that 7 team that gave me the…

— Clint Bowyer (@ClintBowyer) June 29, 2024

“Well damn, not what I was hoping for,” Bowyer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter following the race. “Shit happens. Made a mistake and stalled in pitbox and then payed the price on restart. Cover it every week, mistakes are what make the difference.

“Appreciate @SpireMotorsport, Brian Pattie, and everyone on that 7 team that gave me the chance.”

Regardless of the way it worked out, it’s still an accomplishment in itself that Bowyer was able to hop into a truck after some serious time off and run well before sustaining some damage. Moving forward, he’s expecting to be back, not willing to end his racing career on that note.

“Well, it was just that. We fought loose in the whole time from the word go and I know from a lot of years of experience that’s hard to overcome,” Bowyer explained, following the race to FOX. “You fix that and it hurts something else and that something else is usually exit. We just kind of fought back and forth.

“I stalled it on pit road. … That [Daniel] Dye, I think I passed him earlier in the race, he run up front. Shouldn’t have made a mistake, put us back there in the back and then I don’t know what the hell happened on the restart, they all checked up, it was dead stopped in front of me, and I crashed, Mike. Tore my toy up.” 

Of course, Bowyer had to have a beer afterwards to get his mind back in the right place, but he certainly wouldn’t be stopping at one.

“That’s exactly where I’m going and I won’t stop at A beer after that,” Clint Bowyer continued, regarding heading to Broadway for a drink. “But I will be back, I promise you there’s no way in hell I’m ending on that note.”

Alas, time will tell when the next time Clint Bowyer gets into a truck is, but he’ll always be welcomed by fans and NASCAR media alike. Until next time.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.