August 17th, 2009 
T.C. One of the bigger story lines of the 2009 season has been the downfall of Richard Childress Racing. After putting all three teams into the Chase in 2008, only Clint Bowyer appears to have a shot at a Chase berth for 2009. With only a few races left before the “playoffs” begin, Bowyer is 14th in the standings, 58 points out of 12th. But even though the organization has been making some improvements over the last few weeks, the pressure to perform and frustration from not performing appears to be building.
During the Cup race on Sunday at Michigan, if you happened to be listening to Kevin Harvick’s radio traffic, you would have heard a few interesting exchanges between he and team owner Richard Childress. At one point during the race because of Harvick’s complaining, Childress tells Harvick to “shut up and drive the car.” And at another point, Harvick tells Childress he is “tired of listening to [Childress'] excuses.” (Find links to full audio at Rubbins-Racin.com)
It’s interesting to note here that even though Harvick was complaining, his team ended up finishing a respectable 12th, while teammates Bowyer and Casey Mears finished in the top ten.
With all of the rumors floating around about a possible split between Harvick and RCR, some may take this in-race spat as fuel for the fire. I would caution you in doing this though.
Harvick is notorious in and around the garage for speaking his mind during races, and sometimes it gets ugly. His barbs are usually aimed at his crew chief, the pit crew, and the team as a whole. They don’t call him “Happy” for nothing.
This most recent exchange with Childress certainly wasn’t an isolated incident, so it might be a bit naive to believe this is evidence of a growing problem between Childress and Harvick. Harvick is a passionate driver who wants to win. And nobody understands how to handle “Happy” better then the only owner he’s driven for in the Cup Series.
I also wanted to point out the owner involvement in this situation. Sometimes an owner needs to key his mic and say something to bring a driver back to Earth. Since they are the ones signing drivers’ paychecks, often times they are the only people a driver will respond to. We’ve heard Roger Penske, Rick Hendrick, and Joe Gibbs do the same during the race.
Don’t expect the poor performances to continue for RCR. The team has shown signs of life over the last four or five races, and Childress won’t allow the team to flounder for long. And if I had to venture a guess right now, I’d say that Harvick will be back in the #29 for 2010.
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Richard telling Kevin to just drive the car, (yes, that is the G version of what he said) seemed to be what Kevin needed. Things were pretty quiet after that and he came to earn a respectable 12th place. Whatever works huh? Still can’t stop thinking that where there is smoke there is fire though. Time will tell. Until then, on to Bristol!!!
From the outside it looks that Richard Childress tried to do it the old way, swapping whole teams around. That is a sad refelection of a owner that has lost the plot! teams are created one step at a time, and are broken up one step at a time. Unless richard gets someone to replace bpbby Hutchens, etc, then he’s going to stay where he is. Its simple, open up the purse strings and hire good people, and that includes drivers.
I question the wisdom of an owner getting into it with his driver like this during the race. Frankly, I’m not sure he should even be on the radio. An argument with the owner is just one more distraction the driver doesn’t need. Let the driver complain, it shows that he cares. And if the crew chief has a problem with a griping driver, he’s in the wrong business.
Sure Harvick is a complainer, and sometimes he gets carried away. But it’s not like RCR is doing a lot of things right this year. And RC needs to remember that this is a race team, not a football team. If he wants to show who’s boss, it’s not gonna be beneficial for anyone.
When Harvick first came to Nascar in 2001 I hated him. He was driving the Goodwrench car and to me it was a sin of the greatest magnitude. My heart was broke from losing my favorite driver and I instantly hated Harvick. Even after getting past losing Dale Sr. Harvick still rubbed me the wrong way. Nothing would make me happier than to see him out of cup racing altogether.
His attitude sucks and I am tired of seeing his vampire toothed face on my TV. Fire him Richard, get a real driver with real talent.
While I don’t know the inter-workings of team 29 and whose to blame, I do know there sure are a lot of other talented drivers out there just ready to strap in, drive the car and offer constructive feedback. Time to cut the post-Earnhart umbilical cord. Atlanta ’01 was a long time ago!
just call him “Dude” ala Kurt Busch to Roger Penske.
TC, you of all people should know what’s said over the radio is for listening, not judging and repeating. It won’t be long where all signals will be scrambled and we fans won’t be able to listen anymore. And that would be a damned shame.
Funny, I just read on another racing site an article speculating that Childress may be talking to Elliot Sadler (who is none too happy at RPM) as a possible replacement for Harvick.
Harvick and Childress have been together a long time, and while they have had some success, but it seems unlikely they will ever win a championship together. Also, I think that Harvick is still upset over the mid-season crew swap with the #07 team. Something tells me that was not his idea. Maybe it is time for Harvick to move on.
Harvick is not the first nor will he be the last driver to whine & complain about his car during a race. Especially during a crappy season. As far as I’m concerned, a team owner is just that, the owner, & he can handle his employee however he wants. If Harvick doesn’t like it, he can walk. I don’t think he will though.
When Tony Dowe speaks, RC should listen!
It appears he is not wanting to take the time to fix the underlying problems or just cannot see the problems. Maybe he is too busy with wineries and hunting and has lost sight of the core business.
I think the “whole team” swap worked once…10-15 years ago. Of course, it was more of a fluke than good team management. However, in the classic monkey see monkey do form of the garage area, several people keep doing it.
chub – teams are not going to scramble because of the fans. Their concern would be other teams listening in on setups/strategy. If they could scramble, they would be already.
As a fan of Harvick, since he started racing for Richard Childress almost 11 years ago now, I sense that Harvick feels he is the leader of the team. He feels like he should be the alpha-male in the team. Him complaining about his car, which has been running on empty all year long, is kind of understandable. Harvick works hard to get to a point where he can be a contender week in and week out and to me, it seems like RC is finished with him and focusing a little more on Bowyer.
Dont get me wrong, I like Clint Bowyer. He is a young, talented driver that has the opportunity to go far in this business and I think that he can succeed in the RCR camp. Harvick won’t, which is why he wanted to leave in 2006. RC started to give him better cars after the rumors started and Harvick won a handful of races and stayed. Then, in 2007, after several incidents with RC over a radio communications, meetings and other personal business stuff, he asked for his release and didn’t get it. He asked to leave in 2008, after some more problems internally with the team and RC was able to convince Harvick to stay for another year and sign on for additional year as well, thanks to Shell’s contract status. (Shell is signed through 2010) Now 2009, he is demanding his release and RC is ignoring it and telling the press that Harvick is committed. Harvick isn’t committed to RC anymore, the relationship is long gone in the garbage. He hasn’t been given cars to succeed in and that has taken this situation to the edge of the mountain. Shell is fusturated and Harvick already has his feet out of the door. Anymore problems and it could end up being World War 3 at the RCR shop.
It is time for RC to let go and for Harvick to join Stewart-Haas Racing, which will be a good fit for Harvick, who is really good friends with Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart. If not SHR, he should just go on his own, which I think will suit Harvick even better, because of the independence. Shell has already announced that if Harvick leaves, they are going with him. Anywhere Harvick goes, it seems like Shell will follow. It just seems like a good fit for Harvick and the team of his choice. They get an experienced vet that wants to win and perform well week in week out and get full sponsorship money and a determination to see their logo in victory lane. RC can find someone young and start fresh. Time to end the crap and move forward.
chubdubblub are you serious? lol. people have been listening to incar audio forever. it’s a part of nascar and it’s not going away and no one is going to “code” frequencies.
Another reason for Harvick’s frustration could be that he DOES know what it takes to build a sucessful race team. He’s very successful in the Nationwide series and just about owns the Camping World series this year.
Something’s not right at RCR, not just Harvick. Casey Mears??? Come on. No wonder the crew swap teed him off.
Everything Harvick owns runs well. Everyone at RCR does not. Time has passed RCR by, just like Petty Motorsports. Seems like when Harvick’s contract is up Childress starts building better cars for a little while then it goes down hill again. I think he is as good as gone after 2010, but on the other hand what will happen at Stewart-Haas? If he goes there can all three run up front? Stewart can anywhere he goes, but Dale Jr. is showing that the most money and best equipment do not mean everything.
T.C., your article is very poinant but citing the fact that RC is the only owner that Kevin has driven for in his Cup career is hardly worth bringing up. Kevin has driven for other arrogant owners such as Wayne Spears in his career as a race car driver. There are a number of issues swirling around in the background of the storm that is RCR. It isn’t just about poor cars like the one Kevin was asked to drive at Bristol when the steering was so bad that they didn’t get in a single lap of first practice. It also involves money.
RCR is very thin on experienced engineers and has no chance of putting up a Cup champion in the next several years. Kevin has wasted enough time with this organization and knows what kind of technical effort is required to win. His truck chassis and Nationwide cars are setting new standards in their divisions. Kevin is smart and will continue to smile that “poker” smile when asked about next years plans.
FWIW Kevin cold drive a wheelchair around Bristol and end up in the top ten. The car RCR gave him to drive in the spring race was an utter embarrasment.
Whether its Harvick, RC, the team or the organization as a whole, no one above mentions the COT. IMHO some teams figure it out and some don’t!
As much as I dislike the spec COT, one thing it does do is expose those drivers and teams that are not willing to adapt to change and those that relied on aero advantages, chassis setups and such of the old car. Driver and team alike better learn quick how to adapt to a crappy handling car just like everyone else.
IMHO Both JR and KH relied on superior equipment to rack up wins, but not much since. JG is just now coming to grips after early hatered for spec-COT.
Coder said “Shell has already announced that if Harvick leaves, they are going with him. Anywhere Harvick goes, it seems like Shell will follow.”
That is 100% false. They have NOT announced that. Get your facts straight.
I heard the radio traffic, and while I do agree that it probably wasn’t a big deal as an isolated incident, the underlying situation that caused the tirade – another nearly 20 second pit stop by the “new” 29 crew, combined with them managing to leave a wheel loose – has been on-going since the team swap. Harvick sounds frustrated beyond belief, and I don’t blame him.
One thing that has been noticed is that not one, but two diecast programs have been cancelled in recent days for Harvick – the holiday diecast (along with Kahne – rumored manufacturer change and Kenseth – sponsor change) and the Team Realtree program, along with Truex’s car (driver change). Is there fire with that smoke?
Fair enough, I will apologize for jumping the gun on the whole if Harvick leaves RCR, Shell will follow. As it stands now fans, the deal with Shell is over at the end of this season and that is a 20 million dollar sponsorship deal that is running the 29 team right now. In today’s tough economy, that is one lucrative contract.
Re-reading over my notes that I look at everyday (for my doubters) the report says that RC has said that Shell and Harvick are both signed through 2010. Harvick has asked for his release, because he is trying to go to Stewart-Haas Racing, which if he does, he is hoping Shell will go with him, because Hendrick has been trying to shop Shell ever since they started to sponsor Harvick in 2007. I truly believe that Shell will follow Harvick, if he goes to Stewart-Haas Racing for next year, but if not, we could see some new colors for the 29 in 2010, because I doubt Shell will take much more of their car running in the middle to rear end of the pack each week. Who can blame them? They probably pay the msot money out per year, so in turn, they expect the best. Maybe all the fans can convince Shell to stay for another year, unless the ESPN report of Shell being signed for 2010 to the 29 team is true. Quick, email Shell and convince them. Maybe it will work…
Shell said in an email to thatsracin.com that they were signed through 2010. At least that’s what was reported about when the rumor first surfaced.
Obviously that could change as contracts are made to be broken, but as it stands now, it appears that they would have to buy out both the driver and sponsor contracts if they wanted to leave after this year.
I wonder if there’s a performance clause in there for pit crews?
that could be their out… LOL