Power Rankings: Tough times for Richard Childress Racing
Updated June 22
It has been a rough season for Richard Childress Racing, but the developments of the past week have been especially troublesome.
First came news that General Motors was cutting back support. According to documents filed for its bankruptcy case, the manufacturer owed RCR Enterprises a $2,538,750 payment.
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| 'We've all just got to adjust for these times and racing is no different,' Richard Childress says. (Getty Images) |
"The cuts that General Motors has made are necessary for the conditions that they're in today," Childress said.
"It's not going to affect our performance at RCR. It's not going to affect our technology. We're making sure; yeah, we may have to do other things a little differently, but when it comes to our performance and giving our sponsors their return on investment, it's not going to affect any of our sponsors either."
Problem for Childress is that the return on investment hasn't been as good as in years past.
Which brings us to RCR's other big headache -- Sunday's race at Sonoma left it without any drivers in the top 12 in points with 10 races to go until the Chase cutoff. This after a season when RCR had placed three drivers in the top six of the final point standings.
Jeff Burton had been the point man for RCR much of this season, but following a 34th-place finish at Sonoma, he dropped from 12th all the way to 15th -- 46 points out.
Childress added a fourth car this season, but probably couldn't have done it in a clumsier manner. Instead of simply putting new addition Casey Mears in a fourth car, he removed Clint Bowyer, who finished fifth in the 2008 final standings, from the 07 and put him in the new car with a new crew chief.
At first it appeared Bowyer would have no ill effects from the move. He finished top 10 in four of this season's first six races, but then the new 33 team hit the skids, finishing 18th or worse in six consecutive races. Though results have improved over the past month -- including an eighth-place run Sunday -- the uneven performance has left Bowyer 16th, 65 points out of 12th.
Meanwhile, Mears got off to a slow start and with Kevin Harvick also struggling, Childress flip-flopped the entire teams of the 07 and 29 cars after nine races, leaving only the drivers in place. The switch has failed to provide the spark Childress was hoping for as Mears sits 21st in points and Harvick 25th with a combined four top 10s.
Between the poor performance and GM's financial crisis, rumors are starting to swirl that Childress might have to cut back to as few as two teams next season.
"Who knows what will happen?" Childress said. "We've all just got to adjust for these times and racing is no different. All the different companies that you look around [and see], so many of them are making adjustments and we've all got to do that. We will survive and we're in the greatest country in the world and we will survive this."
Power Rankings after Sonoma:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Greg Biffle | 1 |
| Won the pole and led 74 laps on Saturday night but faded down the stretch to finish 12th. Still hanging on to the Sprint Cup Series points lead but by only a pair over Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. | ||
| 2 | Matt Kenseth | 2 |
| Climbed to within a whisker of the points lead with a sixth-place finish on Saturday night. Now the world awaits the announcement regarding the potential change of Kenseth's car number. Relax Kenseth fans, the 17 isn't going anywhere. | ||
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 7 |
| Roared back up the rankings and the points standings with his first win since October of last season and in the process gave team owner Rick Hendrick historic Sprint Cup victory number 200. Johnson's history has been to bunch up wins once he gets to victory lane. | ||
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 3 |
| Was in the mix for a second Darlington win but wound up settling for a fourth-place finish. Like Johnson Busch has returned to form in recent weeks and delivered on the expectations most had for the No. 18 team this season. | ||
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | 5 |
| Was behind the wheel of one of the coolest looking cars in recent weeks with a Cale Yarborough-inspired retro paint scheme on the No. 11 Toyota. Looked almost Yarborough-like at Darlington for a while but didn't have enough mustard to run down Johnson for the win. | ||
| 6 | Martin Truex Jr. | 6 |
| Wasn't exactly pleased with his team for some suspect pit work at one point of the race but kept his composure and battled back for yet another finish inside the top five. | ||
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 4 |
| It was a struggle for Junior to just finish 17th. Had a decent car early in the night but handling issues plagued the No. 88 squad, and you can be sure crew chief Steve Letarte won't bring the same set-up back to Darlington next season. | ||
| 8 | Clint Bowyer | 8 |
| A rather quiet night for the Michael Waltrip Racing driver with an 11th-place finish. Still not bad when an "off night" can be within a hair of a top-10 run. | ||
| 9 | Tony Stewart | 12 |
| An interesting night for Smoke, who was very strong in spurts but had to fight through handling issues, a broken clutch and a fuel pressure problem during the 500 miles. Pretty solid performance to deal with all that and still come home third. | ||
| 10 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| A seventh-place finish and another top 10, but now that Johnson's 17-race winless drought has ended will the questions mount for Edwards on his not visiting Victory Lane for more than a year? | ||
| 11 | Kevin Harvick | 10 |
| Was the focal point of Darlington's promotional campaign trying to capitalize on Harvick's tussle with Kyle Busch last season. But overall a very quiet night for the No. 29 Chevrolet driver who left Darlington with a rather mediocre 16th-place finish. | ||
| 12 | Brad Keselowski | 9 |
| Hasn't performed well at Darlington during his Sprint Cup career and that remained intact on Saturday with a 15th-place Southern 500 effort. A downer for the Blue Deuce after Keselowski's Talladega win last weekend. | ||
| 13 | Ryan Newman | 13 |
| Was headed for a better night than what the results show when Newman got caught up in the aftermath of Kurt Busch's spin late in the race when he got punted from behind. The frustration overflowed once the checkered flag flew with both teams getting involved in a scuffle as well as Newman and Busch exchanging harsh words. | ||
| 14 | Paul Menard | 15 |
| A decent day with a 13th-place finish for the Richard Childress Racing driver. Continues to hang around on the fringe of the top 10 in the points standings. | ||
| 15 | Kasey Kahne | NR |
| Has finally completed the turnaround from his dismal start to the season and is knocking down consistent finishes on a weekly basis. Kahne's eighth-place run was his fifth straight top-10 finish. | ||
