Childress Nascar Nextel Cup cars closing back in on the competition

By MIKE HARRIS

The Associated Press

Toby Talbot / The Associated Press

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress follows his cars on the track during practice at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H.

Richard Childress never got to the point where he hated coming to the race track, but there were times in the past five years when he rather would have been hunting or fishing.

Since his longtime driver and friend Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, Richard Childress Racing, once considered one of the elite teams in NASCAR, has struggled just to be competitive.

"I hated seeing the faces in the race shop," said Childress, who won six championships with Earnhardt as his driver. "Nobody was smiling.

"We just couldn't find the right combination of people and equipment. It was tough on everybody on our team because we were used to winning races and winning championships and, all of a sudden, it wasn't happening."

For the first two years of NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup championship, RCR was little more than an observer, with Kevin Harvick, the team's marquis driver, failing to qualify for the 10-man, 10-race playoff.

But thanks to some major personnel moves within the team, a lot of determination and a renewed excitement, it looks like RCR is back.

Heading into the Cup race this Sunday in Pocono, just seven races from the start of the Chase, Jeff Burton is third in the points and Harvick is eighth. Even rookie Clint Bowyer is having a solid season and is 16th in the standings.

"You've always got to be happy when you make any kind of progress," Childress said. "We know we've got a lot more we've got to accomplish to get the teams and the cars to where we want to be to win consistently and be in the top five consistently. And that's what you've got to have to run for a championship.

"But the improvements alone that we've made in our aero programs, our engines, our cars, our chassis, personnel, it's been a pleasure to sit back and watch all these guys and ladies do their jobs and get these teams up and running. And the smiles are a lot bigger. So it's fun."

One big question heading into this season was whether Harvick, the driver who stepped into Earnhardt's big shoes in 2001, would stick around for the resurgence. He spent much of the past two seasons complaining about team's lack of success and appeared ready to walk away.

Harvick would have been a free agent after this season and he certainly would have been a target for the new Toyota teams entering Cup in 2007. But, after seeing the direction RCR was headed late last season and early this year, Harvick signed a multiyear contract extension – perhaps the most significant evidence that Childress has turned it around.

"We're not all the way where we need to be with our cars and engines and things like that," said Jeff Burton, who gave RCR its only Cup victory of the season early this year in Phoenix. "We've made a lot of strides, but we've got to continue to make progress. It's down to small things now. We've come a long way in a short amount of time. I think we're pretty close."

Childress, Harvick and Bowyer all give a lot of credit for the new attitude – and the improved results – to veteran racer Burton, who joined the team midway through the 2004 season.

"Everybody at RCR has played a role, but Jeff has played a big role in the improvement," said Bowyer, who bears a resemblance to Burton, both on and off the track. "He has a lot of experience and he came from a successful team over at Roush (Racing). I think he's brought a lot to the table, a lot of ideas, a lot of input on where we need to be, where we need to change. And Richard listened to him.