RCR drivers rack up points

July 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By CHRIS JENKINS

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

If anybody needed more evidence to confirm that Richard Childress Racing is back as a NASCAR power broker, Sunday’s organization-wide romp at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway could be Exhibit A.

Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick finished second for RCR, trailing only Jamie McMurray. His car, like Harvick’s, was powered by a motor built by the Earnhardt-Childress Racing engine shop.

Harvick’s teammates weren’t far behind, with Clint Bowyer in fourth and Jeff Burton in sixth. And Juan Pablo Montoya, who led much of the race before getting shuffled back on a late pit strategy decision and subsequent crash, also had an ECR engine.

After falling from its perch as a perennial contender in NASCAR, Richard Childress’ team has been on the rebound since last year’s Brickyard race.

“From last year to this point, it’s a 180,” Harvick said. “It’s a lot easier and more exciting and everybody has a lot better mindset coming to the race track than we did last year. In the end, you work just as hard to run last as you do to run first. To see the reward that the guys are getting and we all get from running better is a lot more fun.”

Nobody could blame Childress for thinking about quitting racing after Dale Earnhardt, his longtime friend and star driver, died at Daytona in 2001. Childress pressed on: That’s what Dale would want, he told himself.

Childress took on investors, helping him make a commitment to improving the team’s engineering department. He navigated sponsorship issues and kept Harvick from leaving despite public squabbling over his contract.

The team finally appeared to be on the upswing in 2007 and 2008, but took a significant step backward last year, when all four drivers were shut out of victory lane and missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Now Childress appears to be solidly back on top.

“The guys on the team ... at RCR are just racers,” Harvick said. “You don’t have a huge amount of guys that are just, I guess, engineering-based, would be the most polite way to put it. Everybody has raced at a lower level and likes to be a part of doing well and the way that we function at RCR is very blue collar and I like that.”

It’s shaping up as a potential championship season for Harvick, who leads Jeff Gordon by 184 points after Indy.

Harvick’s stellar season has been playing out somewhat under the radar because he has two victories, while Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have five each. The often-outspoken Harvick doesn’t mind being outside the spotlight.

“Absolutely, that makes things a lot easier,” he said. “It lets us focus on what we need to focus on. The attention and the things that have or haven’t come with that don’t really matter to us as long as we’re getting the results on the race track.”

Burton and Bowyer are contenders, too; if the Chase started today, both drivers would be in.

The team is building better cars — and better engines, in a joint venture with Dale Earnhardt Inc. The company also provides the engines in the cars McMurray and Montoya drive for the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team, which is the result of a merger between Chip Ganassi’s team and the racing side of DEI.

After Indy, Ganassi sounded like a satisfied customer.

“I want to thank Richard for giving me the 29 engine this weekend. He gave me the 29 and the 31 engines,” Ganassi joked after McMurray’s win, referring to the car numbers for Harvick and Burton. “I tell him that every week, you know.”