Childress adjusts to life after Earnhardt

Jenna Fryer

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001 | 10:09 a.m.

DARLINGTON, S.C. - It took Richard Childress a long time to stop looking for a black No. 3 on the track. For him, races just didn't look the same without Dale Earnhardt.

Six months after Earnhardt's death in an accident in the final turn of the Daytona 500, neither does Childress' company.

"Leaving Daytona, I didn't know if I wanted to even see another race," Childress said. "I just lost my best friend and didn't know what I wanted to do. But after talking to the guys at the shop, we knew we had to go forward. That's what Dale would have wanted us to do."

He knew it wasn't going to be easy.

With Earnhardt's death, everything the two of them had built since 1984 was in danger, and the longtime car owner had to act quickly to save it.

"The very first thing I had to do was take care of our foundation," Childress said. "The company was built on that race team and we had to get it back and get it going."

So he did.

Now, instead of competing for an eighth Winston Cup championship with Earnhardt this season, Childress is spending the year breaking in a rookie driver, searching for a second driver and preparing to expand his fleet to three cars in 2002.

The first thing he did was put Kevin Harvick in Earnhardt's ride, a move that carried heavy risks.

The plan was for Harvick to drive the third Cup car when RCR expanded, and Childress was asking the unknown 25-year-old to pilot his strongest team.

"I told him I'd do whatever he needed me to do," Harvick said. "But it was a little scary, stepping into that job and with how quickly it was happening, it was big shoes to fill and I didn't want to look at it like that."

Childress put no pressure on Harvick and stripped Earnhardt's car of its trademark black paint and No. 3. Although Harvick made it a smooth transition by winning in his third try, Childress found it to be a difficult adjustment.

"It was tough to start with, not seeing the black No. 3 on the track or in the garage at the first several races we went to," Childress said. "You'd walk in the garage area and you'd look for the truck, you'd look for the car - that's after doing it for 16 years, it's just something that doesn't go away.

"So it's hard for me sometimes to look out there and pick out the No. 29 car. But we're beginning to make that transition and make it work."

Part of that's come from success: Harvick has won two races, has eight top 10 finishes and is ninth in the points.

"He's the real deal and I keep saying that," Childress said. "With Kevin and that race team showing what they're made of, it's a positive."

But at the same time, his second team is not having any success.

In five-plus seasons, Mike Skinner has yet to win a points race and Childress decided last week to release him from his contract a year early.

"Mike is one of the most talented drivers out there but, for some reason, we haven't been able to win," Childress said. "We've had some great runs, but this sport is about winning."

So Childress is looking for a new driver for that car, which will also have a new sponsor because Childress is ending his association with Lowe's Home Improvement.

There's been speculation that Robby Gordon, who drove the car in four races last month as a replacement for the injured Skinner, could get the job.

But a chance to work for one of the best teams in the sport could also lure a big-name driver to move over to RCR.

If that isn't enough for RCR, he's got Busch series champion Jeff Green coming to work for him next year in the third car Harvick was originally set to drive.

That could prove to be the most difficult adjustment of all.

Harvick and Green tangled during last week's Busch race at Bristol Motor Speedway, with Green taking exception to the way Harvick bumped him as he tried to pass.

Harvick won the race and Green raced over to his car to express his disgust.

"If he wants to win races like that, that's fine," Green said. "But that's not how Jeff Green does it - I'll finish second before I do that."

Harvick ignored him, driving off and doing a burnout that sent thick white smoke into Green's car.

Kevin Hamlin, Harvick's crew chief, said making everyone get along is Childress' biggest challenge.

"Mixing all the different personalities is the hardest thing he probably does," Kevin Hamlin said. "People don't always get along and he's got to find a way to make everyone coexist. I don't envy him at all."

Childress chalked the clash up to a racing incident and said everything would be fine. And he might be right - Harvick's win in that race was the 100th NASCAR victory for Childress, proving that despite Earnhardt's death and all the turmoil and changes, RCR is going to be fine.

"There's been a lot of tears and a lot of fun along the way," Childress said. "Those 100 wins came from a lot of people, a lot of dedication, a lot of great sponsors - that's why RCR has got those wins. It's not Richard Childress, but I'm pleased to be a part of it."