FANTASY NASCAR Racin

RICHARD CHILDRESS - 9/21/1945 -
Richard Childress was a full time CUP driver and had been involved with NASCAR long before most fans realize. Childress was an independent driver and fielded his own cars starting in 1969. Childress' career in NASCAR's top levels started auspiciously when a drivers' strike at Talladega Speedway left NASCAR Owner William France looking for replacement drivers. Childress started his first ever race as a replacement. He would start 26th and finished 23rd after falling out with a broken axle on lap 80. Childress began racing in the top level as an independent driver, using the number 96. He changed to number 3 in 1976 as a tribute to Junior Johnson's past as a driver. Although he never won as a driver, he proved to be average behind the wheel registering six top-5, seventy-six top-10 finishes, with a career-best of third in 1978. He raced full time from 1976-1980 posting three top five finishes with a best finish of third at

Nashville. He retired from driving in 1981 after Rod Osterlund sold his NASCAR team to J.D. Stacy, and Osterlund's driver, Dale Earnhardt, did not want to drive for Stacy. Childress, with recommendations from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, chose to retire and put Earnhardt behind the wheel of his #3 car, complete with Wrangler Jeans sponsorship. That first alliance lasted for the season. Ricky Rudd was hired in 1982 and drove for two years, giving Childress his first career victory in June 1983 at Riverside. Earnhardt returned for the 1984 season, and together with Childress formed one of the most potent combinations in NASCAR history. They won championships

in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994 with crew chiefs Kirk Shelmerdine and Andy Petree, and Goodwrench replacing Wrangler as the primary sponsor after 1987. In the late 1990s Earnhardt's performance began to slow down, and went through 1997 without a victory. The next year, he finally won the Daytona 500 after 20 starts. The year after that one, he was able to score wins at Talladega, as well as cause more controversy, after he spun Terry Labonte out to win a race at Bristol. In 2000, he looked like he was finally regaining his old form, winning twice and finishing runner-up to Bobby Labonte in points, and his many fans hoped he was gearing up for his record-breaking 8th championship. However, this was not to be. He posted 67 wins with Earnhardt from 1984-2000; until Earnhardt's untimely death on the final lap of the 2001

Daytona 500. Following Dale Earnhardt's death on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Childress changed the number of the car from 3 to 29, inverted the original paint scheme, and tabbed his 25-year-old Busch Series driver Kevin Harvick to drive it. Harvick originally was scheduled to drive the No. 30 car part-time before going full-time in 2002; but the death of the 7-time Winston Cup champion rushed Harvick into the spotlight. In just his third Winston Cup start, Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by mere inches (.006 seconds) to win the Cracker Barrel 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, dedicating the win to Earnhardt. After posting another win at Chicagoland Speedway, Harvick won NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors. Childress

fielded two other cars in 2001 as he started to expand his race team. Robby Gordon drove the #31 Cingular Wireless Chevy while Mike Skinner wheeled the Lowes machine. The trio posted two wins, and seven top five finishes. 2002 saw the Skinner replaced by Jeff Green at RCR. Harvick won at Chicago; Green posted a season's best finish of second at New Hampshire and Gordon's best results was a third at Watkins Glen. The same trio returned to RCR in 2003 but after eleven races Steve Park come over from Dale Earnhardt Inc to take the seat of Jeff Green, while Green went to to fill Park's seat at DEI. Green's firing was largely connected to an altercation between him and teammate Kevin Harvick during the

Richmond race in which Harvick wrecked Green while racing for a Top 10 position, igniting an already tumultuous relationship between the two drivers that went back to their competition in the Busch Series. Harvick once again won once; this time in the Brickyard 400. Robby Gordon found victory lane twice; both wins at the road courses of Watkins Glen and Sonoma. Park pitched in a best finish of fifth at Michigan. In 2004, Childress promoted 25-year-old Busch Series driver Johnny Sauter to the ride and released Park, hoping Sauter would rise to the occasion like Harvick had in 2001. Kevin Hamlin moved over from the 31 team

to serve as Sauter's crew chief. Sauter had helped secure the 2003 Xfinity Series owner's championship in a partial schedule with RCR, while finishing 8th in driver points. Sauter failed to score a top ten, ranked at the bottom of the Raybestos Rookie standings, and was released just 13 races into the season. After that, Dave Blaney drove the car, only skipping Infineon Raceway when Jim Inglebright took the wheel. A couple of weeks after it was announced Blaney would be in the car for rest of the year, Jeff Burton became available after parting ways with Roush Racing's #99 car, leaving Blaney out in the cold. Burton was signed to a multi-year contract and drove the car for the rest of the year beginning at Michigan in August. When Robby Gordon left to start his own team, Burton moved to the 31. Hopes were high heading into 2005; but results turned out to be disappointing. Harvick

scored the organizations only win and the threesome only scored a total of six top five finishes. For 2006 Clint Bowyer would replace Dave Blaney and this trio would be the three full time drivers for RCR through 2008. During that span RCR would see Bowyer win on two occasions, Burton win four times and Harvick visit victory lane on seven occasions. In 2006 Harvick would finish fourth in points while in 2007 Burton would finish third. The dawn of the 2008 season saw the same three drivers once again; but RCR expanded to a fourth team and hired Casey Mears to pilot the vehicle. For the first time since 2004 the organization would go win-less. All but Mears posted at least one runner up finish. After a dismal showing by Mears that team was shut down for 2010. Bowyer grabbed two wins that season (NH and Talladega) while Harvick posted three wins including the other Talladega race; Michigan and

the July Daytona event. Harvick finished third in the points. Burton posted two second place finishes. RCR once again expanded to four team for 2011 adding Paul Menard to the fold. The car was re-numbered to 27, and MENARDS Home Improvement, owned by Paul's father John Menard, came on to sponsor the car in a multi-year agreement. Menard posted a win in the Brickyard 400; while Bowyer added another win at Talladega and Harvick would tack on four additional wins and once again finish third in points. Bowyer left RCR at the beginning of the 2012 season to go and drive for Michael Waltrip Racing. RCR once again decided to just run three cars with Burton, Harvick and Menard being their drivers for both 2013 and 2013. In 2012 Harvick provided the teams only win (Phoenix) as the group only posted a total of eight top five

finishes. 2013 wasn't much better with Harvick providing the only bright spots; having won four times and yet another third place finish in the points. At the end of 2013, Harvick announced he was leaving RCR to go to Stewart-Haas Racing. Ryan Newman was currently at Stewart-Haas and was brought to RCR to fill Harvick's seat. On December 11, 2013, Richard Childress announced that his eldest grandson Austin Dillon would drive full time for his team in 2014. He would also contend for Rookie of the Year honors. In addition, the car was renumbered back to the #3, which had not been used since Dale Earnhardt's death, though RCR continued to pay for the rights to the number. New sponsor Dow Chemical and existing RCR sponsors General Mills, American Ethanol, Bass Pro Shops, and Realtree, came on to fund the return of the #3. Austin had run the number in prior competition, including championship seasons in the Truck and Nationwide Series, as did his younger brother Ty. The transition back to 3 was

met with mixed reactions, with some fans welcoming the move with open arms, and others turning their backs on RCR and even NASCAR as a whole, due to accusations of disrespect towards the late Earnhardt, and that the #3 should have been retired, -- despite the fact that Austin got the blessings to drive the number from Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kelly Earnhardt, Kerry Earnhardt, and the long time friend and pit crew member of Dale Sr, Chocolate Meyers. In addition to the return of the #3, Austin was set to compete with what many deemed to be the strongest rookie class in the series' history, including talented youngster Kyle Larson

and his runner-up for Xfinity Series ROTY Alex Bowman, Nationwide race-winner Justin Allgaier and Nationwide veteran Michael Annett, and former big team development drivers Parker Kligerman, Ryan Truex, and Cole Whitt. Larson and Dillon were viewed as the top contenders for the title. Dillon opened up 2014 with a bang, winning the pole at the season opening Daytona 500, then finishing ninth in the race after avoiding serious damage in a lap 145 wreck involving 13 cars. Dillon finished fifth in the July race at Daytona posting his season's only Top five result. Larson posted eight top ten finishes including finishing second on two occasions and easily won the Rookie of the Year title. Menard and Newman each posted five top five

finishes in 2014 with Newman posted the organizations best finish of second at the season ending race to Homestead. The season wasn't as bad as it sounds however as even without a win Newman had advanced to the Chase portion of the series, and had made it into the final race at Homestead with a shot to win the Championship. Newman had a chance to win late but was unable to get by leader Kevin Harvick who beat Newman to the finish line by 1/2 second winning the race and the Championship. 2015 and 2016 saw the same line up at RCR. The group seems to have fallen on hard times; not having won a race since 2013 when Harvick was on the team. In 2015 and 2016 the organization didn't

even manage to post a second place finish. During the mid-1990's Childress began expanding his racing empire, fielding entries in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series. The team won the 1995 Craftsman Truck Series championship with driver Mike Skinner in the series' first season. He also expanded to a two-car operation in the NASCAR Cup Series. With Harvick having won the Xfinity Series championship in 2001 and 2006, RCR became the first team in NASCAR history to win all three of NASCAR's National Championship Series. RCR won the 2011 Camping World Truck Series Championship and the 2013

Xfinity Series Championship, both with Childress' grandson Austin Dillon driving the #3. When Austin Dillon moved up to race in the Xfinity series; Ty Dillon took over the driving duties in the truck series. Ty posted one win in 2012 and added two more in 2013 while finishing second in the points. RCR hasn't run in the Truck series since 2014 and in the career of the organization; ran 322 races and posted 31 wins, won the Championship twice had drivers finish in the top five in the top five in points ten times. RCR's first time in the Xfinity series saw Childress field cars for his son in law Mike Dillon in 2009. (Father of Austin and Ty Dillon). Like in the Cup series; the longer Childress was involved

with the series; the bigger his team got and the more races they ran. 2010 saw Dillon run the full season and RCR added Kevin Harvick as a team mate who also ran the full season. Dillon posted two top ten finishes; while Harvick won three times and finished third in points. Harvick drove on full time car in 2001 while the second car's driving duties was split among several drivers. Harvick won on five occasions and won the Championship. Harvick was intended to again drive full time in the Xfinity series; but upon Earnhardt's death went to run full time in Cup.

Johnny Sauter ended up wheeling the only full time run for RCR in 2002 and posted one win. In 2004 Sauter and Harvick split the ride in one car while Ron Hornaday was hired to drive a second car for the full season. Hornaday visited victory lane once and finished third in points. In his part time role Harvick claimed three wins. The organization saw scenerio for 2005 as Hornaday again won once and finished fourth in points while Harvick drove part time and won twice. Clint Bowyer was brought on board for 2005 and he posted two wins and finished second in the season points. Harvick ran only 21 races and won on four occasions. 2006 saw Bowyer win once in the series 35 starts and finish third in points while Harvick only started 31 of the 35 races; yet won on nine occasions and won the points championship. In 2007, RCR didn't have a full time

driver running for the Championship; but Jeff Burton, Bowyer and Harvick ran between 14 and 22 races. Bowyer won twice; while Burton won on five occasions and Harvick capped the season winning six times. A total of 13 team wins. In 2008 Bowyer ran full time in the Xfinity series going for the Championship. He managed to win one race; but combined with his other consistent finishes, it was enough to win the Championship. The years 2009-2011 RCR didn't field a full time team and chase the points championship. Choosing instead to run drivers in select races. During this time the team saw Bowyer win twice, Scott Wimmer also won once and Dale Earnhardt drove and won on one occasion. After winning the Truck series Champion in 2011, Austin Dillon was

ready to move up the ladder; so Childress went back to running a full time team in the Xfinity series; two in fact. Dillon would drive the #3 Chevy full time while Elliott Sadler would also wheel a full time ride. Dillon won twice and finished third in the points; while Sadler got the checkered flag four times and finished second in points. Harvick added two additional victories. At the end of 2012 Sadler left to drive for Roush Racing. Brian Scott was brought in to drive the car Sadler vacated. Scott posted three top fives; while even though he didn't win Dillon was able to claim the Xfinity Championship by three points over Sam Hornish. Once again, the year after winning a Championship Dillon gets moved up the ladder as for 2014 we see Dillon moved up to drive for RCR in the CUP series.

Scott remained on to drive one full time car; while Ty Dillon drove a second full time car. This season a third car was added to the team and Brendan Gaughan was brought in to drive it. Dillon won once and finished fifth in points. Even though Gaughan won twice he finished the season eighth in points. Things remained the same for 2015; but the results were disappointing. The only win was picked up by Paul Menard who drove a part-time car. Ty Dillon did manage to finish third in the points. Brian Scott picked up a full time ride driving for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Cup series; so his seat was filled by Brandon Jones. All three cars managed to qualify for the new Chase format that NASCAR had switched to this season. Gaughan had a bad first three races and was eliminated early finishing 12th. Jones went on to finish 10th. Dillon advance almost to the end; being eliminated just before the Championship race at Homestead. Dillon ended up fifth in the season

points. The team picked up their only win when Michael McDowell got the win at the Road Course in Elkhart Lake WI. In 2017 Richard Childress Racing saw some increased success. On the Cup side of things; Ryan Newman used fuel strategy to win the spring race at Phoenix; while Austin Dillon also employed the same strategy to win the 600 at Charlotte. The wins advanced both drivers into the Chase. That was about the highlights for the season. Overall Dillon was only able to post three Top 5's and finished 11th in points. Newman had seven Top 5's but was a disappointing 16th in points. Paul Menard had his best finishes at Daytona. He finished fifth in the Daytona 500 and third when the series returned in July, his only two top five finishes all season. In the Xfinity Series Childress

fielded four teams. Daniel Hemric, Brendan Gaughan and Brandon Jones had full time rides; while the other car was split among various drivers. The most successful driver was Hemric who posted a second place finish along with seven Top 5's and finished fourth in the points. Gaughan had two Top 5 finishes and was 10th in points when Jones was 16th in points For 2018 Menard is leaving RCR and going to drive the #21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. Childress dropped from fielding three cars full time down to two when Menard left to drive for the Wood Brothers race team. Grandson Austin Dillon won the season opening Daytona 500; but that was the high spot for the season. Dillon's team mate Ryan Newman finished eighth in that

race so it looked like this could be a promising season. However, the duo struggled all season, vary rarely running up near the front. Counting his win; Austin only posted two Top 5 results and only eight Top 10's. Newman was even worse as he never finished within the Top 5 and had nine Top 10's. Newmans best finish was a sixth at New Hampshire. While the RCR Cup program struggled; the Xfinity series seemed to flourish. Childress fielded three cars in that series. Two drivers, Daniel Hemric and Matt Tifft ran full time while a third car was shared among

several drivers. Austin Dillon won the teams only race in a rain shortened event at Michigan. But the three cars did post a total of 26 Top 5 results. Tifft and Hemric both were very competitive all season. Tifft almost pulled off a win at Elkhart Lake on the road course, finishing second. Meanwhile Hemric posted a best finish of second on four occasions. Hemric really stepped up his game late in the season. Both he and Tifft qualified for the Chase and marched through the elimination rounds. Tifft got eliminated just before the seasons final race; while Hemric had a shot to win the Championship at Homestead. He headed into the final race with second place finishes in

Kansas and Phoenix with a tenth place finish sandwiched in between at Texas. At Homestead Hemric ran well finishing inside the top five in both segments. In the final run his car just couldn't keep up with eventual winner Tyler Reddick. Hemric went on to finish fourth in the race; third in the points. Hemric's performance must have been impressive enough to convince Childress. Near the season's end Newman had announced he would be leaving RCR to go to Roush Fenway Racing. Childress immediately picked Hemric to move up to the Cup series in 2019 to fill the seat left by Newman. Hemric drove the #8 Chevy. RCR struggled in 2019. Grandson Austin Dillon had a poor season as he wasn't able to post a single Top 5 finish; Hemric did manage one Top 5 result. Neither driver was able to advance to the first round of the Chase. In the Xfinity Series however RCR did show signs of greatness. With Hemric moving up from the Xfinity Series

to the Cup Series in 2019; that opened a seat at RCR for Tyler Reddick. Reddick had a great season and was one of the "big three" top competitors in the Xfinity Series. Reddick won six times and posted an amazing 24 Top 5 finishes in 33 races. He made it to the Championship race at Homestead; won the pole and followed that with a race win to claim the Xfinity Championship. Hemric was the casualty of Reddick's success. Reddick had shown he was ready to move to the Cup level, so Childress let Hemric go and will put Reddick in the #8 car in the Cup Series for 2020. Hemric went to JR Motorsports to run 21 the races in the Xfinity Series. Reddick's best finish of the season

came at Texas; where he finished behind his teammate Austin Dillon. Reddick had three Top 5 and nine Top 10 finishes. As mentioned, Dillon won at Texas; his only win of the year. RCR seemed to improve as the year went on, and Reddick seemed to compliment Dillon and it helped both teams improve off of their 2019 results. Austin had the one win, two Top 5 and eight Top 10 results. He made the Chase and finished eleventh in the season points. Dillon missed the road course race at Daytona due to testing positive for Covid 19. Reddick missed the Chase and finished 19th in the points. In the Xfinity Series; Childress supplied one car that ran full time; and it's runs was split up between four drivers. Kaz Grala ran five races and posted a season best fourth. Myatt Snider ran eight

races and had two Top 5 finishes with a best finish of fourth. Young driver Anthony Alfredo drove the car the most; as he was at the keyboard for 19 races. He had two Top 5 finishes with a best of third at Texas. He had nine Top 10 finishes. In the Cup series as 2021 started it seemed that RCR had lost a step in their competitiveness. Their cars just didn’t seem to have the speed to run up front. Dillon struggled as he was only able to finish in the Top 5 once. And had eight Top 10’s. Dillon’s only Top 5

came in the season opening Daytona 500 when he finished third. Young driver, Tyler Reddick, had three Top 5’s and 16 Top 10’s. He had a good car at Homestead and was in the lead group most of the race. But couldn’t keep pace with the leader. But when the sun set, Reddick’s car came to life and he knifed through the field coming from many seconds behind to close to just two seconds back when the checkered flag flew. He also had a great run at Charlotte on the Roval posted a second place finish. In the Xfinity series, RCR put young Myatt Snider in the #2 car for the full season. He posted the organizations only win when he grabbed a win at Homestead. Bad luck in round two of the Chase saw him be eliminated after that round. For 2022, we saw Reddick and Dillon back in their cars, with hopes that the new NextGen cars would help balance the playing

field. In the Xfinity series, RCR would bring up truck series drivers Sheldon Creed to drive the #2 car, and Austin Hill to wheel the #21. In the Cup series, the season was better than most people expected. Tyler Reddick wheeled the #8 car and he would claim his first career Cup win at Road America, and locked himself into the Chase. The next month he won again on the road course at Indianapolis. In October Reddick announced that he had signed to drive for 23XI starting in 2024. Childress was upset because he never got advance notice of the announcement. Kyle Busch was hired to drive for RCR in 2023, after Joe Gibbs couldn't find a sponsor when M&M's announced they would be leaving. But even though Childress got upset at Reddick; he still gave it his all to try and win. Even after he had been eliminated from contention in the Chase; Reddick won at Texas. Austin Dillon also won for RCR. He

managed to win the final race of the regular season at Daytona; to just slip into the Chase at the last second. But finishes of 17th, 14th and 31st in the first round of the play-offs eliminated him from contention. As things worked out; at season's end 23XI Racing bought out Reddick's contract and he would go to start driving for them in 2023 instead of 2024. Austin Hill would make his first Cup start driving for RCR this year when he piloted the #33 at Michigan. The Cup teams combined for four Cup wins and 15 top five finishes. In the Xfinity series; Austin Hill and

Sheldon Creed both moved up from the Truck series, to drive for RCR. Hill had the best performance. He won the season opening race at Daytona; and would win again in July at Atlanta. In the Chase, in the semi-final round, he finished 6th, 9th and 9th and still failed to advance to the Championship race at Phoenix. He finished sixth in the points. Creed didn't have as much success. He didn't have a win, and just missed making it into the Chase on points. He had a great battle at Darlington with Noah Gragson and AJ Allmendinger in the waning laps. Creed led until two laps to go with Allmendinger and Gragson right on his tail.

Allmendinger got under Creed going into turn one with two to go; and the loss of momentum also let Gragson get by. Creed battled back, and AJ led as they come to the white flag. Creed got back by Gragson; but he couldn't catch Allmendinger before the checkered flag flew. Creed also had a great run at Martinsville as the season was coming to a close. He finished second behind winner Ty Gibbs. Hill and Creed will be back for a second season driving for RCR in the Xfinity Series in 2023. I suppose the “big” news with RCR in 2023 was that Kyle Busch left Joe

Gibbs Racing and came to drive for RCR. It was anticipated that Busch would be able to help Austin Dillon improve his performance. Busch got off to a good start, winning the season’s second race. After the win at Fontana, he had several top ten finishes and was in the winner's circle again at Talladega. A third win would come at St Louis. In the Chase he advanced through the first round, but in the Round of 12 finishes of 34th and 25th saw him in a must win situation at Charlotte on the Roval. The best he could do was third. He ended up 14th in the points. It was a disappointing result to such a promising start. Still Busch posted three wins, ten top five and 17 top ten finishes. Teammate Dillon had a worse season than he

had in 2022. He only had one top five finish and seven top tens. RCR also hosted two full time teams in the Xfinity series. Once again Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed would wheel those efforts. Hill had a successful season, while Creed struggled. Hill kicked off the year with a win as the season opened at Daytona. After a sixth place finish at Fontana, Hill was in victory lane again at Las Vegas. Then a seventh place finish was followed by a third win, coming at Atlanta. A blown motor at COTA was the only race he had a DNF in the first 26 races. He only had four

races outside the top ten in that span. Clearly he was a force to be reconned with each time they rolled into the track. They added a fourth win at Pocono. When the Chase kicked off, he and teammate Creed tangled at Bristol, and Hill finished 33rd. He rebounded the next two races to advance to the Round of 8. In that round, finishes of seven and fourth left Hill in a position where he just had to have a good finish to advance to the championship race. Creed had also advanced each round of the chase and was in a must-win situation to advance to run for the title. So RCR had a good chance that both drivers could advance to the Championship race. As the race wound down, Custer had the best car; and was battling team-mate Hill for the win. Hill kept blocking Custer. The race went into overtime and the two drivers started side by side. Custer dove inside of hill going into turn three on the final lap and instead of falling in behind Custer; Hill cut down on Custer and the two made contact and went up the track. This opened the door for Justin Allgaier on the bottom and he filled the hole. Allgaier and Custer came to the finish line side by side; and Allgaier got the win. Custer's second place finish eliminated him; and Hill; being overly aggressive; caused him to spin out; and he also missed a shot at running for the Championship. Creed announced he would be leaving RCR at the end of the year before he even had a ride somewhere else. After the season ended he signed with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity series. ARCA stand-out Jesse Love will take over the #2 car while Hill will be back in the #21. Childress has six Cup Championships, 113 wins, and has won such major events as: World 600 (1986, 1992, 1993, 2011, 2013 & 2017); Southern 500 (1987 & 1989); Brick yard 400 (1995, 2003, & 2011); Daytona 500 (1998, 2007 & 2018). He also has five Xfinity Series Championships and 88 wins. In the truck series RCR has two Championships and 31 wins.