| | Childress on a roll: | RCR has closed gap on rival Hendrick drivers | |
|  | | CIA Stock Photo | Burton’s win was Chevrolet’s first Sprint Cup victory of the season, after wins by Dodge and Ford, and Hendrick is still winless. | | By Mike Mulhern of Journalnow.com BRISTOL, TN -- Who would have figured that Sunday’s Food City 500 would pit Richard Childress Racing’s three Chevy drivers against Joe Gibbs’ three Toyota drivers?
Childress’ 1-2-3 sweep - Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer - is certainly one of the highlights of Childress’ long NASCAR career.
Scott Miller, Jeff Burton’s crew chief and one of the top veteran engineers in the sport, has been slowly but steadily gaining technological ground on the Rick Hendrick teams, and nowhere was it more obvious than here Sunday afternoon.
In fact, all three Childress teams soundly beat Hendrick’s cars. Was this a turning point in the little Chevy vs. Chevy competition, or just another race?
Martinsville Speedway, the Sprint Cup’s next stop March 30, could help answer that question. It has been a Jimmie Johnson-Jeff Gordon track the past few years, and the Hendrick stars will be favored again. If Childress’ teams can match Hendrick’s teams there, that would be a big plus.
And then comes Texas Motor Speedway, where Burton won last spring.
Burton’s win was Chevrolet’s first Sprint Cup victory of the season, after wins by Dodge and Ford, and Hendrick is still winless.
“We weren’t the best car. At times we were really close but didn’t have the track position,” Miller said. “And then at the end the opportunity presented itself for us to try to make something happen.”
To stop for tires under caution with 10 laps to go, or not to stop, that was the question. Leader Tony Stewart said no, and teammate Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both said no, too. But the other 11 drivers still on the lead lap did stop.
Still, it wasn’t fresh rubber that, in the end, made the difference, but rather circumstances.
“Where we were running right there, it turned out to be a pretty easy call for us,” Miller said. “We weren’t going to win from where we were. Our best chance to make something happen was to do what we did.
“Then circumstances in those last five laps worked out to our benefit, which was really nice.”
On the restart on lap 496 of the scheduled 500-lapper, Hamlin jumped past Stewart into the lead. Kevin Harvick then made an inside move on Stewart on lap 498, and the two touched, and Stewart skidded into the wall, bringing out another caution and setting up the two-lap overtime shootout.
Burton slipped around Harvick in the melee to take second for the final restart. Hamlin’s engine sputtered on the restart, and Burton took the lead, followed by his two teammates.
“We’ve run really well here,” Burton said. “Scott has done a really good job of getting good cars here. We’ve put ourselves in position several times.
“A lot of people questioned my move last year - not taking out Kyle (Busch) to win the race. I still believe I did the right thing. That’s who I am. I’m not going to change who I am.
“Those things come back to you.”
Childress’ drivers are firmly in the top 10: Harvick third, Burton fourth and Bowyer ninth.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Scott Miller, for everything he’s accomplished,” Childress said.
“His knowledge … the engineers that come to the track. We got a lot of new, young engineers. A while back it was hard to get enough guys on a seven-post (computer simulation machine); now we’ve got to have a schedule to use it.
| | Posted March 17, 2008 , 10:50 pm EST
Last Updated March 18, 2008 , 1:28 pm EST | | | | | | |
