|
Tuesday, 03 March 2009 10:10 |
|
 Just a week after one of the team's worst outings in years, the Richard Childress Racing brigade was able to rebound during Sunday's Shelby 427 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Putting three of the team's four drivers in the top-12 when the checkered flag flew, RCR showed their slip up in Fontana was just a fluke.
Using a bit of pit strategy late in the going, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer battled it out for the top-spot, that is until Kyle Busch stole the show. While they were unable to beat Busch's No. 18 Toyota to the line, the two RCR teammates who finished second (Bowyer) and third (Burton) held their heads high after climbing from their Chevrolets.
"We had a good day. Kind of after last week, that felt like a win," Burton said. "Got lapped three times last week and finished third this week and led a bunch of laps. I'm not real sure how we do that, but we did it."
As Burton pointed out the team's performance at the Auto Club Speedway was simply embarrassing. Struggling throughout the entire weekend, Burton rolled off from the 41st spot and never truly made a charge forward. After being lapped by the leaders early and often, the Virginia-native brought his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet home in the 32nd-place.
Responding with a strong run at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Burton attributed his success to the hard work and determination of the men behind the scenes. While others may have become frustrated and hung their heads, the crew at RCR went to work solving the problem.
"It was big changes, you know," Burton admitted. "I'm proud of our team for not just sticking their head in the sand and saying, It's going to be okay, but going out and try to make it okay. That's a sign of being aware of what's going on and not being afraid to admit, hey, we might have done something wrong. You'd be amazed the number of people in this business that will stick to something even though it's not working because it ought to work.
"Our guys said, 'To hell with that. It didn't work. We got to start over.' I'm proud of that attitude. That attitude is what will take us to the top. Without that attitude, we will be in trouble."
For teammate and Sunday's runner-up Clint Bowyer, the early season stumbles are more difficult thanks to the transition to a new team. Although he remained with RCR for this season, the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion switched teams with RCR newcomer Casey Mears. Bowyer moved to the No. 33 car and was forced to become accustomed to working with a new crew chief (Shane Wilson) while rebuilding the chemistry and routine he had worked on for years in the No. 07.
"Over the off-season, you got to work hard, got to try to improve, and we did," Bowyer pointed out. "It didn't work for us. You got to regroup, got to be able to go back and make the right changes, the right corrections and get back to what was working for us last year.
"I feel like our guys worked well together," added Bowyer. "The communication was good within the organization. That's why we were able to come out here and make the changes and make corrections."
Sunday's performance at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway showed this team will not give up on running well after a slight set back. Responding the only way they know how, Burton, Bowyer and Keving Harvick all had solid runs in the top-12. When Busch's celebratory smoke cleared at the end of the day, Bowyer had moved to second in points, while Harvick is not too far off in tenth. Burton finds himself 17th and Casey Mears is 27th in points and has yet to have a solid run in 2009.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in order to get each of the four teams running consistently well week-in and week-out. One successful weekend after one of the team's most disappointing outings is not enough proof for this team to quit working towards perfection. 
|
