Richard Childress Racing: With Mears, you could see all four in Chase

2008 season review

One of NASCAR's four super teams, Richard Childress Racing put together a decent campaign by the standards the organization has set over the last few seasons of Sprint Cup Series competition.

While its trio of Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick all made the Chase, none was able to mount a charge during the playoff run and make a serious threat at winning the championship.

Veteran Burton came the closest again surprising some by jumping into the title picture once the Chase kicked off in September. Burton stayed in the mix for the point lead until another fade hit the driver of the RCR No. 31 Chevrolet.

Burton ended the year with seven top fives and 18 top-10 finishes including a pair of victories at Bristol and the Chase race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. But in the end the Virginia driver was disappointed he couldn't finish the year higher than sixth in the standings.

"We're a good team that can still get even better," Burton said. "Our goal is to make the teams in front of us think about us. Every time they look up, I want them to see us."

Teammate Harvick went through a winless season and has not won a points race since his 2007 Daytona 500 victory. But Harvick was consistent enough to make the Chase and after finishing fourth in the final standings is confident the No. 29 team is championship caliber.

"A lot of people are making an issue of the fact that we didn't win a race this year," Harvick said. "And we are disappointed obviously that we weren't able to get to Victory Lane. But we still had a solid season and to finish fourth in the standings is a big accomplishment. I'm looking forward to next year and think we can make the next step."

Bowyer was able to pick up a win -- his second career victory since becoming a Sprint Cup regular in 2006. He had seven top fives and 17 top-10 finishes during the season, which also included winning the Nationwide Series championship, and considers his third full year in NASCAR's top division a success.

"Obviously winning the championship is what every team's goal is when the year starts and we're no different," said Bowyer. "We came up short of that in the Sprint Cup Series this year but this sport is so competitive that I'm proud of the effort we turned in and certainly think we have things in place to challenge for the title in 2009."

2009 season preview

Bowyer will have an even bigger challenge in front of him in 2009 as he slides over to the new RCR No. 33 entry with newcomer Casey Mears taking over his No. 07 ride as the team grows from three to four cars.

But despite the fact he'll have to basically start over with a new crew chief in Shane Wilson and team, Bowyer has high hopes for the coming year.

A change of scenery just might do the trick for Casey Mears. (Getty Images)

"It's not anything performance-related into why we're split up," Bowyer said of former chief Gil Martin leaving his side to work with Mears. "It's strictly moving forward trying to better our organization. Richard [Childress] came to us and said this is what we're going to do and we have to make the best out of the situation. "I feel like we've all got to stick together. When you look at the teams we're getting beat by, it's all four-car teams. We knew that we had to step up, bring in more income and that's going to bring in more engineers and R&D."

Bowyer trades his Jack Daniels sponsor colors for General Mills, which comes to the new No. 33 ride from Petty Enterprises.

Mears hops from a disappointing tenure at Hendrick Motorsports to RCR and believes the change of scenery behind the wheel of the No. 07 will be beneficial.

"I owe Rick Hendrick and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports my gratitude and really enjoyed my time there," Mears said. "I feel like I'm going to another first-class organization with RCR and know we're going to be in position to win races and hopefully run for the title."

The addition of an additional car to the team should bolster an already strong organization looking to make inroads against Hendrick and Roush.

But breaking up the chemistry between Bowyer and Martin will throw a learning curve in front of that duo while Mears also has a transitional period in front of him.

Burton and Harvick will need to lead the way as the veteran presence of the team while Bowyer-Mears get acclimated. RCR will have a chance to put all four cars in the Chase in 2009 but more trips to Victory Lane are needed, especially from Burton and Harvick, for the team to seriously challenge for a title.