With three full seasons of Sprint Cup Series competition behind him, including consecutive appearances and top-five finishes in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, it should be no surprise Bowyer is again on track for another championship run.

But there are several important, tangible differences in Bowyer’s team at Richard Childress Racing the past three years and the one he competes with today.

With the addition of a fourth Cup team, team owner Richard Childress sent Bowyer to the new team in the offseason to work with a new crew chief, Shane Wilson, and crew. And until a last-minute move to acquire owner points before Speedweeks, Bowyer wasn’t even assured a spot in the field for the Daytona 500.

SThat’s a lot of uncertainty to begin a new season. Instead of using it as an excuse, Bowyer and his No. 33 team have embraced it. And after seven races he is fourth in points, the highest among RCR’s four Cup teams.

Teammate Jeff Burton is 12th; Kevin Harvick 14th; and Casey Mears — who took Bowyer’s place with the No. 07 team — is 23rd.

“I feel like we’ve just done a very good job of getting the thing started off right and keeping that momentum going and keeping that excitement,” Bowyer said. “I think that’s so crucial with a new team, to get that thing started off right at Daytona, and then to keep that.

“That way everybody has that momentum and everyone has pep in their step and everybody doesn’t get down. It’s so easy for a new team to get down before they ever even get a chance, and I’m excited about getting the year started off right and with the success we’ve had.”

In seven races, Bowyer has four finishes of sixth or better, including a runner-up finish at Las Vegas. He hasn’t finished worse than

“It’s just been good, it’s been fun, and it’s been easy. It’s almost effortless. It always seems to be that way with racing. It’s easy to run good, and it’s hard to run bad,” said the 30-year-old native of Emporia, Kan.

“It seems like the worse you run, the harder you work and you don’t seem to make up the difference. And then all of a sudden you just hit on something. It’s like, you know, the light bulb switch is back on or something, you know.”

Although Bowyer didn’t appear a big fan of the change in teams at the time, he said he’s not surprised by the team’s start. He said he saw indications over the winter of what was to be.

“Over the off-season as I saw the team and it was being built around me, this is an all-star team from the ground up,” Bowyer said. “We’ve got guys from a Nationwide championship run last year. We’ve got guys we brought in from other teams.

“There were a few teams that went under and a lot of good personnel in those teams, and we were able to capitalize on some of those misfortunes and get a lot of good people. So we’ve got a lot of depth on this team, and I think that’s a huge reason why we’re seeing the results that we are.”