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Parkfan
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After being bashed by all the RCR and DEI fans when I wrote something kind of similar about Harvick after the Infineon deal, I thought I would post someone else's opinion.
RCR's 29 Problems
by Steve Nash-Staff Writer
07/02/2003
Driver of the 29 RCR's problem?
Who knew that Dale, Jr. was a foreseer of future events? Back in Daytona for Speedweeks in February, Jr. qualified second to Jeff Green's pole spot for the Daytona 500. After he had been knocked off, he came out being ticked off. About losing the pole spot for the most prestigious race? Nope, he was ticked off about Richard Childress Racing.
The fact that Jr. drives for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. shouldn't have given any discredit to his claims that RCR was in chaos. Jeff Green counterclaimed that Jr. was full of chicken feces, and he couldn't have been more wrong.
Well, move forward to May, and Jeff Green is spun out by teammate Kevin Harvick during the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond. After his #30 AOL Chevy was punted in the wall, Green angrily confronted Harvick's crew chief, Todd Berrier, and their owner, Richard Childress himself.
The very next Monday, Green was let go by RCR. He quickly found a spot at, lo and behold, DEI. The same man he had angrily called a bad name was now his teammate.
But something seemed amiss at RCR. The teammates never seemed to work together, as Dale Jr. said, and they were, in Dale Jr.'s words, disgracing Richard Childress and the legacy of the team.
Fast forward to two weeks ago, at the Infineon Raceway. Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick, the same Kevin Harvick, get together. Gordon then passes, legally, his teammate before the caution stripe to gain a spot, and goes on to win the Dodge/Save Mart 350.
After the race, Harvick is quite livid. He calls Gordon's move "chicken", and goes on to say that Gordon isn't too good of a teammate, and that things will come back to Gordon.
RCR had just finished first and third in a Winston Cup event, two of their drivers are in the top 15 in points, it was RCR's first win since Chicago in July of '02...and all teammates can talk about is how wrong each other is?
Wherever the problem began is a mystery. Just remember that in 2001, when Dale Earnhardt, the soul of RCR, died at Daytona and the fresh young talent of Kevin Harvick came in, RCR was in peril. But it banded together and Harvick finished 9th in points with two wins, even though he had missed the first race.
But lost in the euphoria, is that Mike Skinner lost his ride in a bizarre state of affairs. The 31 car had never run too well with Skinner, but he was let go after being injured in the Chicago race. Robby Gordon, who had a big run-in with Harvick earlier in the year at, ironically, Sears Point (now Infineon), as Harvick was a lapped car and Gordon was racing for the win, was hired to become the new driver of the 31.
Gordon won at New Hampshire, the final race of the year, and RCR was all giddy about it's 2002 season approaching.
Instead, RCR suffered it's worst year since it was just Richard Childress driving the car. Jeff Green, who had been hired to drive a third car, Harvick and Gordon didn't do squat all year. Harvick's lone win at Chicago was the only bright spot for the team, and nobody ran well.
The garage knows all however, and Jr. had to have picked up on some of the reasons of the squabbling. Remember that Harvick had goofed up during a Truck Series race at Martinsville in April of '02, and got suspended for the Winston Cup race the next day.
Is the problem, then, Kevin Harvick? He came into RCR telling people he was not Dale Earnhardt, but ended the year, 2001, trying to rough anyone and everyone he could. That continued into 2002, when he finally calmed down a bit after NASCAR parked him.
But has the ego gotten to Harvick and caused a riff at RCR? Every teammate that Harvick's had, he's never truly acted as a teammate to. And two of them, Green and Skinner, have been fired. Of course, he and Gordon aren't best friends, but shouldn't they act as teammates?
If the problem is Harvick, how does RC address the issue? Harvick is RCR's best driver, but he runs too inconsistently to be a championship contender. Robby Gordon only runs good every now and then, and Steve Park hasn't run well since 2001.
But there is a problem. It's eating RCR up, and it's hurting the team's performance. The other main Chevrolet teams couldn't run bad if they only had one tire on the car, and there was no gas in the tank. Hendrick is 2nd in points, DEI is 3rd, and Joe Gibbs is 4th. RCR does have the 9th place man in points, but Harvick hasn't exactly scored a lot of good solid runs this year.
They are starting to rebuild after just a horrible 2002 season, but having these internal problems will only cause any efforts they've made to progress to degress into the point of having to rebuild all over again.
Something is wrong at RCR, and that something has to be fixed. And maybe the main driver of RCR is the person they should start with.
RCR's 29 Problems
by Steve Nash-Staff Writer
07/02/2003
Driver of the 29 RCR's problem?
Who knew that Dale, Jr. was a foreseer of future events? Back in Daytona for Speedweeks in February, Jr. qualified second to Jeff Green's pole spot for the Daytona 500. After he had been knocked off, he came out being ticked off. About losing the pole spot for the most prestigious race? Nope, he was ticked off about Richard Childress Racing.
The fact that Jr. drives for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. shouldn't have given any discredit to his claims that RCR was in chaos. Jeff Green counterclaimed that Jr. was full of chicken feces, and he couldn't have been more wrong.
Well, move forward to May, and Jeff Green is spun out by teammate Kevin Harvick during the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond. After his #30 AOL Chevy was punted in the wall, Green angrily confronted Harvick's crew chief, Todd Berrier, and their owner, Richard Childress himself.
The very next Monday, Green was let go by RCR. He quickly found a spot at, lo and behold, DEI. The same man he had angrily called a bad name was now his teammate.
But something seemed amiss at RCR. The teammates never seemed to work together, as Dale Jr. said, and they were, in Dale Jr.'s words, disgracing Richard Childress and the legacy of the team.
Fast forward to two weeks ago, at the Infineon Raceway. Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick, the same Kevin Harvick, get together. Gordon then passes, legally, his teammate before the caution stripe to gain a spot, and goes on to win the Dodge/Save Mart 350.
After the race, Harvick is quite livid. He calls Gordon's move "chicken", and goes on to say that Gordon isn't too good of a teammate, and that things will come back to Gordon.
RCR had just finished first and third in a Winston Cup event, two of their drivers are in the top 15 in points, it was RCR's first win since Chicago in July of '02...and all teammates can talk about is how wrong each other is?
Wherever the problem began is a mystery. Just remember that in 2001, when Dale Earnhardt, the soul of RCR, died at Daytona and the fresh young talent of Kevin Harvick came in, RCR was in peril. But it banded together and Harvick finished 9th in points with two wins, even though he had missed the first race.
But lost in the euphoria, is that Mike Skinner lost his ride in a bizarre state of affairs. The 31 car had never run too well with Skinner, but he was let go after being injured in the Chicago race. Robby Gordon, who had a big run-in with Harvick earlier in the year at, ironically, Sears Point (now Infineon), as Harvick was a lapped car and Gordon was racing for the win, was hired to become the new driver of the 31.
Gordon won at New Hampshire, the final race of the year, and RCR was all giddy about it's 2002 season approaching.
Instead, RCR suffered it's worst year since it was just Richard Childress driving the car. Jeff Green, who had been hired to drive a third car, Harvick and Gordon didn't do squat all year. Harvick's lone win at Chicago was the only bright spot for the team, and nobody ran well.
The garage knows all however, and Jr. had to have picked up on some of the reasons of the squabbling. Remember that Harvick had goofed up during a Truck Series race at Martinsville in April of '02, and got suspended for the Winston Cup race the next day.
Is the problem, then, Kevin Harvick? He came into RCR telling people he was not Dale Earnhardt, but ended the year, 2001, trying to rough anyone and everyone he could. That continued into 2002, when he finally calmed down a bit after NASCAR parked him.
But has the ego gotten to Harvick and caused a riff at RCR? Every teammate that Harvick's had, he's never truly acted as a teammate to. And two of them, Green and Skinner, have been fired. Of course, he and Gordon aren't best friends, but shouldn't they act as teammates?
If the problem is Harvick, how does RC address the issue? Harvick is RCR's best driver, but he runs too inconsistently to be a championship contender. Robby Gordon only runs good every now and then, and Steve Park hasn't run well since 2001.
But there is a problem. It's eating RCR up, and it's hurting the team's performance. The other main Chevrolet teams couldn't run bad if they only had one tire on the car, and there was no gas in the tank. Hendrick is 2nd in points, DEI is 3rd, and Joe Gibbs is 4th. RCR does have the 9th place man in points, but Harvick hasn't exactly scored a lot of good solid runs this year.
They are starting to rebuild after just a horrible 2002 season, but having these internal problems will only cause any efforts they've made to progress to degress into the point of having to rebuild all over again.
Something is wrong at RCR, and that something has to be fixed. And maybe the main driver of RCR is the person they should start with.
) regardless. Im not defending Green in any way, Im just saying that give him time to show what he has to prove in the #1 car. He was wrong for what he did at Richmond(?) and I support what RC did, if anything I think Green wanted himself out of there more than anything.