NASCAR's Clint Bowyer to Petty Motorsports?

Clint Bowyer currently drives the No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, but it may not be for much longer.

Richard Petty Motorsports is shopping out the idea of expanding to a third team for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and Clint Bowyer is on the top of their list.

Bowyer is a free agent at the end of the season and has openly said he was going to look elsewhere first  then make a decision.

Bowyer is currently outside looking in for the 2011 Chase, but a win at Atlanta or Richmond can change that. 

After making the Chase last season and winning the first race in the Chase at New Hampshire, the No. 33 car was found to be illegal and a large amount of points were docked, putting him in a hole he could never recover from.

Bowyer has had an up and down season and he's attracted to the new found success at the Petty camp. The two Petty drivers Marcos Ambrose and A.J. Allmendinger have both been very competitive this season with Ambrose winning his first Sprint Cup race earlier in the month at Watkins Glen and then following it up with a win at Montreal in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

If Bowyer is to re-sign with Childress look for Petty to go for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Stenhouse currently drives for Roush-Fenway in the Nationwide Series and is the current points leader.

Roush-Fenway currently supplies chassis and technical information to Petty so there's already an affiliation. 

Look for an announcement soon as teams start that don't make the Chase start to prepare for the 2012 season.