Childress wants long-term deal with Harvick
Owner says his driver has talent to be a Cup Series champion
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
April 28, 2006
03:23 PM EDT (19:23 GMT)
Richard Childress was bagging an elephant during a safari in Africa when his driver, Kevin Harvick, won last weekend's Nextel Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
The owner of Richard Childress Racing hopes to bag Harvick to a long-term contract over the next couple of weeks, perhaps as early as next week.
Kevin Harvick has won one race each year with the exception of 2004. Credit: Autostock
Inside the Numbers
Harvick's career Cup stats
Year W T5 T10 Rank
2001 2 6 16 9
2002 1 5 8 21
2003 1 1 18 5
2004 0 5 14 14
2005 1 3 10 14
2006* 1 3 4 8
Totals 6 33 70
* Denotes stats through first eight races.
"We both want to be back together,'' Childress said before Friday's practice at Talladega Superspeedway, where he leads all owners with nine victories. "We know we've got a good thing going.
"Kevin has all the talent to be a Nextel Cup champion. We've got his team on the right track. I feel certain we're going to get it worked out. It's just a matter of a few things that are on the table we want to clear up.''
Harvick, who also is a target to drive for Toyota when it enters Cup next season, made a similar statement last weekend before sweeping the Busch Series and Nextel Cup races at Phoenix. He reminded that he has a seven-year commitment to RCR and that money wasn't a key issue, which Childress reiterated.
"The money thing isn't the issue at all,'' Childress said. "It's about developing a team to make it work.''
It's also about commitment, and Childress said there's no doubt Harvick is committed to winning a championship and making RCR a better company.
"We're committed to each other,'' he said.
Childress said signing Harvick to a long-term deal is an important step in developing the stability RCR had before the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001.
Last weekend also was an important step as RCR placed all three drivers in the top 10 for the first time since 2003, when Harvick was second, Steve Park fifth and Robby Gordon sixth at Michigan.
While Harvick was collecting his first win of the year, rookie Clint Bowyer was a career-best fifth and veteran Jeff Burton was ninth.
That left Harvick eighth in points, Bowyer 12th and Burton 13th, a strong position for an organization that hasn't put a driver into the Chase for the Nextel Cup in the past two seasons.
"I'd say we're 70 or 75 percent to where I want us to be,'' said Childress, who put Harvick into Earnhardt's car in 2001.
HARVICK WANTS LONG-TERM
Kevin Harvick hopes to have a new long-term contract with Richard Childress Racing by the May 6 race at Richmond.
Childress said the organization is close to where it was when Earnhardt, who won six of his seven championships at RCR, was alive.
He reminded that beyond Earnhardt's death the organization has undergone a lot of physical change the past two years, building a new engine shop and overhauling the research and development plant.
There also has been a lot of personnel change, none bigger than making former Busch Series driver Mike Dillon the team's director of team operations (2005) and general manager of competition (2004).
"Dillon's been a huge, huge part of it,'' Childress said.
Harvick also brought up Dillon last week when discussing why he wants to return to RCR.
"He knows Dillon is there on the floor every day like I used to be before 2000,'' Childress said. "We now have somebody drivers can talk to constantly. Dillon's a racer. He knows what it takes. He can talk to me any time of the day or night and we can make things right.''
Dillon was just finishing his Victory Lane duties last weekend at Phoenix when Childress called to get the news about the victory and three top-10s.
"Both of us had good days,'' said Childress, noting the elephant he shot had 68-pound tusks, a standard used to determine the size of the kill. "I got a great trophy and won the race, too.''
But Childress warned his employees during a mid-week luncheon not to get satisfied.
"I told everybody don't be fooled by one race,'' he said. "I look at the whole season. ... We know the areas we need to improve in. We're constantly working to improve in those areas.
"We've got the Car of Tomorrow thing coming [2007]. We can't let that distract us, but we still have to be prepared. This is a long-term business.''
That's why he wants to sign Harvick to a long-term deal.
"We're both pretty much committed to make something happen,'' Childress said. "We want to make this work.''
As a funny aside, it was reported on my local news tonight that a Harvick Fan who happened to be working at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in an official capacity upon Childress' return told him that he wasn't allowed to re-enter this country! I LMAO!
Owner says his driver has talent to be a Cup Series champion
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
April 28, 2006
03:23 PM EDT (19:23 GMT)
Richard Childress was bagging an elephant during a safari in Africa when his driver, Kevin Harvick, won last weekend's Nextel Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
The owner of Richard Childress Racing hopes to bag Harvick to a long-term contract over the next couple of weeks, perhaps as early as next week.
Kevin Harvick has won one race each year with the exception of 2004. Credit: Autostock
Inside the Numbers
Harvick's career Cup stats
Year W T5 T10 Rank
2001 2 6 16 9
2002 1 5 8 21
2003 1 1 18 5
2004 0 5 14 14
2005 1 3 10 14
2006* 1 3 4 8
Totals 6 33 70
* Denotes stats through first eight races.
"We both want to be back together,'' Childress said before Friday's practice at Talladega Superspeedway, where he leads all owners with nine victories. "We know we've got a good thing going.
"Kevin has all the talent to be a Nextel Cup champion. We've got his team on the right track. I feel certain we're going to get it worked out. It's just a matter of a few things that are on the table we want to clear up.''
Harvick, who also is a target to drive for Toyota when it enters Cup next season, made a similar statement last weekend before sweeping the Busch Series and Nextel Cup races at Phoenix. He reminded that he has a seven-year commitment to RCR and that money wasn't a key issue, which Childress reiterated.
"The money thing isn't the issue at all,'' Childress said. "It's about developing a team to make it work.''
It's also about commitment, and Childress said there's no doubt Harvick is committed to winning a championship and making RCR a better company.
"We're committed to each other,'' he said.
Childress said signing Harvick to a long-term deal is an important step in developing the stability RCR had before the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001.
Last weekend also was an important step as RCR placed all three drivers in the top 10 for the first time since 2003, when Harvick was second, Steve Park fifth and Robby Gordon sixth at Michigan.
While Harvick was collecting his first win of the year, rookie Clint Bowyer was a career-best fifth and veteran Jeff Burton was ninth.
That left Harvick eighth in points, Bowyer 12th and Burton 13th, a strong position for an organization that hasn't put a driver into the Chase for the Nextel Cup in the past two seasons.
"I'd say we're 70 or 75 percent to where I want us to be,'' said Childress, who put Harvick into Earnhardt's car in 2001.
HARVICK WANTS LONG-TERM
Kevin Harvick hopes to have a new long-term contract with Richard Childress Racing by the May 6 race at Richmond.
Childress said the organization is close to where it was when Earnhardt, who won six of his seven championships at RCR, was alive.
He reminded that beyond Earnhardt's death the organization has undergone a lot of physical change the past two years, building a new engine shop and overhauling the research and development plant.
There also has been a lot of personnel change, none bigger than making former Busch Series driver Mike Dillon the team's director of team operations (2005) and general manager of competition (2004).
"Dillon's been a huge, huge part of it,'' Childress said.
Harvick also brought up Dillon last week when discussing why he wants to return to RCR.
"He knows Dillon is there on the floor every day like I used to be before 2000,'' Childress said. "We now have somebody drivers can talk to constantly. Dillon's a racer. He knows what it takes. He can talk to me any time of the day or night and we can make things right.''
Dillon was just finishing his Victory Lane duties last weekend at Phoenix when Childress called to get the news about the victory and three top-10s.
"Both of us had good days,'' said Childress, noting the elephant he shot had 68-pound tusks, a standard used to determine the size of the kill. "I got a great trophy and won the race, too.''
But Childress warned his employees during a mid-week luncheon not to get satisfied.
"I told everybody don't be fooled by one race,'' he said. "I look at the whole season. ... We know the areas we need to improve in. We're constantly working to improve in those areas.
"We've got the Car of Tomorrow thing coming [2007]. We can't let that distract us, but we still have to be prepared. This is a long-term business.''
That's why he wants to sign Harvick to a long-term deal.
"We're both pretty much committed to make something happen,'' Childress said. "We want to make this work.''
As a funny aside, it was reported on my local news tonight that a Harvick Fan who happened to be working at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in an official capacity upon Childress' return told him that he wasn't allowed to re-enter this country! I LMAO!