Clint Bowyer can’t seem to get away from his NASCAR rival Jeff Gordon.

One week after their dramatic confrontation at Phoenix, the two finished first and second in the season-ending race at Homestead. And now, most recently, the two perennial contenders found themselves sharing a yacht in the Bahamas during a New Year’s Eve party hosted by hip-hop artist Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.

Bowyer is still wondering how he ended up on a yacht headed towards Saint Barthélemy, a French Island in the East Bahamas in the first place. However, he didn’t seem particularly interested in how Gordon ended up there either.

“It was the damndest boat you’ve ever seen in your life,” Bowyer said. “I’m from Kansas. We don’t have big boats in Kansas. We don’t have very big bodies of water. So, I think he was on that same boat. But there were a lot of other people on there and there was a big time being had.

"I’m pretty sure he was on there. It was pretty late.”

When pressed for an answer about whether he and Gordon interacted that night, Bowyer couldn’t resist answering with a degree of sarcasm.

“Yes, we held hands and walked on the boat, discussed the past year and enjoyed ourselves throughout the whole vacation,” Bowyer said while laughing. “That was the one person that I definitely wanted to vacation with. Yes, I couldn’t wait to get there for that very reason.”

While the trip to Saint Bart wasn’t exactly the Love Boat for Bowyer and Gordon, the long-awaited rematch didn’t materialize that night, leading to even more questions about their relationship heading into the new year.

“Who cares?” Bowyer asked. “Really, who cares? Apparently you guys do way more than we do. I can promise you that. I missed that deer that I was talking about in Texas though, if that makes you feel any better. That was more important on my off-season list than figuring out where I was going to vacation and who I was going to vacation with.”

Bowyer would rather just talk about the momentum he established last season, winning three times and securing second place in the Sprint Cup standings – a career best.

“We’ve just got to continue to improve and that was the one thing that I felt like (crew chief) Brian Pattie and everybody did all season long,” Bowyer said. “I felt like we picked up our program up in a big way during the Chase and elevated our game – me in the race car, us working together, our chemistry and Brian calling races. Just everything was really coming together and working well.

“I see that same thing starting out the new year.”