To say that Richard Childress Racing struggled this weekend at the Auto Club Speedway would be an understatement. While Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon put on a show at the front of the field, the RCR team struggled just to stay on the lead lap.

The RCR cars never made a real showing during the weekend's practice session and struggled during qualifying. Kevin Harvick led the charge for RCR during Friday's qualifying session, putting his No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet in the 19th-spot. Clint Bowyer lined up behind Harvick in the 21st-spot, while Casey Mears rolled off from 29th. Jeff Burton never could get a hold of the track and rolled off from the 41st-spot.

Once the green flag dropped, the struggles continued. Burton quickly fell down a lap to the leaders, while Bowyer and Mears were not far behind.

For most of the race Harvick seemed to carry the flag for the RCR brigade. By Lap 25, Harvick had broken into the top-10 and was looking for more.

With the laps winding down and engines starting to fail, RCR's only bright spot on the day went up in smoke. On Lap 209, Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet drove off into the corner with smoke billowing out from underneath. Heading straight for the outside wall, Harvick made hard contact and earned his first DNF in eighty-one starts.

"The motor blew up and I just got in my own oil going in the corner there," Harvick added. "The Shell/Pennzoil car was decent. We just broke a motor there going into Turn 1 and it just didn't give me any warning. We were full speed all the way to the end of the straightaway and the bottom fell out there and just went straight. We got off a little bit that run and tightened it up a little bit too much. But we had a top 10 car. We just didn't quite finish there. I just want to thank all my guys for doing a good job inside the car; and I feel fine."

Once Harvick's day was done, so was RCR's only shot at a good day. When the checkered flag fell at the end of the evening Bowyer was the highest finishing team car in nineteenth, one lap down. None of the four Childress cars finished on the lead lap.

"This certainly wasn't our best effort," Jeff Burton explained. "We struggled with a loose handling Caterpillar Chevy Impala SS for the entire race. We'll just have to re-group and start over in Vegas."

"It was just a really long day," Mears added. "We were just off as a whole. It looked like the No. 29 (Kevin Harvick) was able to put something together where he was running pretty good and it was unfortunate to see him have the trouble he had because he was running the best out of all of us. We just need to collectively get together and find out what we need to work on. We got some right front fender damage there at the end and that kind of gave us the direction I think we might need to work with. We learned a lot. We got a tough start. But I can tell that these don't get down, which makes it pretty cool. You're going to have days like this but it's just unfortunate we're having them right out of the gate because it's tough on everybody. But we'll get it sorted out and be better for Vegas."

With Roush Fenway Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have shot out of the gate once again, it appears the RCR cars have somewhat stumbled. While hopes were high heading into the 2009 season, reality is beginning to set in for this team. With only one car in the top-12 in points, RCR needs to find the consistency and good runs necessary to make the Chase and contend for championships before its too late.