Chil out? No, Childress just down in '09

The 2009 season was one of the most disappointing in the history of Richard Childress Racing. None of the team's four drivers qualified for the Chase, and the best any could do in the point standings was Clint Bowyer's 15th.

While Bowyer was at least in contention for a playoff berth, teammates Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears weren't even close.

'We came into this year with high hopes ... and never really got there,' RCR's Jeff Burton says. (Getty Images)

That's not to say Bowyer's campaign was stellar by any means. Like the rest of the RCR stable, Bowyer went winless in 2009 and struggled to find any type of consistency.

"It's hard to swallow, hard to take," Bowyer said after finally being eliminated from Chase consideration. "You work hard and you're very proud of your team and their hard work that they've put into a year, and when it doesn't go according to plan it's frustrating and hard to take for everybody."

He wound up the season with four top five and 16 top 10 finishes.

Burton was the next-best RCR driver in the standings at 17th, with five top five and 10 top 10s.

In his defense, Burton was involved in several incidents that were simply the case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, particularly when the new double-file restart rule went into play in early June.

But the veteran driver won't use that as an excuse for what he considered one of his poorest seasons on NASCAR's top level.

"It was disappointing," Burton said. "We came into this year with high hopes ... and never really got there. You know, 15 races in, or whatever it was, we were sitting there sixth in points. ... We just couldn't maintain the speed that we needed, or the consistency."

And, of course, there was the matter of all that damaged sheet metal.

"I've hit more stuff this year than I ever remember hitting in my life," Burton said. "I look back on some of those things and certainly I could have done something about them. But a lot of them, the only way to miss them would have been to be in front of them."

Harvick wasn't in front of the field as much as he would have liked in 2009 and ended his second consecutive year without a trip to Victory Lane.

He started the year on a solid note when he finished second in the Daytona 500 and fourth in the season's fourth race at Atlanta. But he didn't have another top five until the 25th race of the year and fell way out of Chase contention by mid-summer.

Harvick was paired with new crew chief Gil Martin in a shakeup of team personnel once the season started, but things didn't turn around for him right away. He was also in the spotlight with rumors of a possible departure from RCR.

Childress, however, put things to rest with an announcement in late August.

"Rumors about Kevin not driving for RCR next season have been flying around the garage area and in the media," Childress said. "We want to put the rumors behind us by stating together that Kevin will drive RCR's No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevy for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

"RCR continues to work on the overall performance of the No. 29 team, like we are with all of our teams, and the plan is to end the season on a high note. Kevin and the No. 29 team are also preparing for next season with the goal of making a run at the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship."

While Harvick will return to the fold for 2010, the same isn't necessarily true for Mears. The former Hendrick Motorsports driver finished 21st in the standings in his first campaign with RCR. In 36 starts, Mears recorded four top 10 finishes and did not record a DNF.

But with sponsor Jack Daniels leaving the No. 07 ride, Mears' full-time future with the team is in serious doubt.

"I'm not certain on anything," Mears said. "It's obvious that if a sponsor leaves and we don't pick up another one, there's not a fourth car. That's just plain as day. So there's really not a whole lot to talk about there other than we're trying to find a sponsor."

Season preview

The bright side of the 2009 season for RCR was the way things finished for Harvick, Burton and Bowyer; all turned in strong performances as the year wound down.

Burton put together back-to-back runner-up finishes to end the year and Harvick began to show signs of life with a pair of top 10s in the final three races.

The crew chief swaps and move of former Burton chief Scott Miller to the role of competition director started to pay dividends down the stretch and provided the RCR stable with a much-needed shot of confidence heading into the offseason.

While Mears will compete in the Daytona 500 thanks to a guaranteed starting spot by finishing in the top 35, his future with the team remains unclear.

But overall, things are looking up heading into 2010 for RCR and the organization appears to have put this year's disappointment in the rearview mirror.