Richard III - Childress Three Car Play Performing Well in Sprint Cup

Published on Tue Feb 23, 2010
<p>Maybe Richard Childress Racing was just meant to be a three-car operation, at least on the Sprint Cup side of the garage. After all, prior to the 2009 season, RCR had put at least one of its drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup each year since the Chase's inception. It was when the team expanded to four teams in 2009 that the wheels seemed to fall off RCR's Sprint Cup program. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Granted, team owner Richard Childress didn't opt to eliminate his fourth car's program after just one year due to performance issues instead it was a matter of not being able to secure sponsorship for a fourth car the team seems to be better off going back to its previous three-car setup. </p><p> </p><p>In 2009, with a Sprint Cup stable that was home to drivers Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, and Casey Mears, the team went winless, put no cars in the Chase, and only posted a combined 14 top-fives across four teams running full-time through 36 races. Things looked so bad for one of NASCAR's previously premier teams that Harvick is said to have wanted out of his contract to look for greener pastures elsewhere. </p><p> </p><p>“I think my teammate (Harvick) aired most of his (anger), but it is tough when you're running bad,” Bowyer said of the 2009 season. </p><p> </p><p>Fast forward to 2010, and the Childress organization is a three-car team with Bowyer, Burton, and Harvick behind the wheel of RCR Sprint Cup Series entries. Only two races into the season, all three remaining Childress wheel men each have a top-five already, and Bowyer and Harvick posted top-10s in both races. Burton's only finish outside of the top-10 so far an 11th in the season-opening Daytona 500. </p><p> </p><p>“When you have a good start, it enables you to just relax a little bit,” Burton said. </p><p> </p><p>That's not to say that the only change that has helped RCR turn things around is the elimination of its fourth team. Childress also shuffled some personnel, making crew chief swaps among the three remaining teams near the conclusion of last season. Whatever resulted in the improvement (probably a combination of both), RCR looks like it may be back. </p><p> </p><p>“I have a lot of optimism about this season,” Bowyer said. “I think we can get back to winning races and running up front and competing for a championship.” </p><p> </p><p>With only two races of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season in the history books, it may be premature to say definitely that Richard Childress Racing is back, but the team is definitely on the right track to right the ship after the beyond dismal season that was 2009. </p><p> </p><p>“It's (the 2010 season) definitely a proving year,” Bowyer said prior to the start of the season. “We gotta prove that we can overcome a bad season and get things turned around.” </p>