While enjoying a nomination to the Hall of Fame on his own merits, Richard Childress also stood behind Dale Earnhardt for many of the accomplishments that led to Dale's election to the inaugural class of inductees. "I bet that you could count on one hand any disagreements that he and I had," Childress reminisced, and added "He did a lot for people that people never knew about." Childress described Earnhardt's efforts to help racers in the series and at tracks that he came up from, attributing the acts to the successful and famous driver never forgetting his roots. Would Dale be still driving if he had never suffered the accident that took his life in 2001? "He had his plan and I"ll tell it someday, not today."

The Richard Childress Racing shop is a far cry from the facility that gave Dale his first championship. While some concerns have been voiced and Richard is continually questioned about recent staff changes, he sums up the team's progress, "We're seeing improvement if you look back to Atlanta," but the improvements are not enough to stop Richard. The team is "going to be making more changes in the next weeks to come." In response to the ups and downs of recent progress, both with the current car and with sponsorships to support all four teams full-time next year. "The book 'Peaks and Valleys' kind of tells where we're at," Childress continued.

The team will still have development efforts for Richard Childress' grandson Austin Dillon hopefully in the Camping World Truck series next year. Austin's cousin Ty Dillon is expected to run the Camping World East schedule, and the team has at least two others in line so that if someone needs a relief like Kyle Busch did last week, "We can pull someone from our own stable."

On sponsorship of Casey Mears' ride for 2010, Richard commented, "We can't turn it into a park and start (sic)." Efforts in earnest are applied to finding a sponsor to keep Mears in the seat full-time. "Casey's shown improvement, I'd like to have seen him in our cars a year ago."

The cars this year would have benefitted from consistent feedback and steady improvement. That's not usually possible with changes in driver and team lineups. "We're getting them better, they'll be good through two stops, the next one you'll wonder 'What happened?'" was the focus Childress described for the team's efforts. He expects support on that front to return eventually from his chosen manufacturer. "GM will be back and they will be strong." There are other manufacturers waiting in the wings to participate in NASCAR as well.

Richard still has faith in Dale's son and does not share the reactions voiced Dale, Jr.'s recent results. "He can compete, he can drive," Richard emphasized. Is Jr's problem the new car? "No, he's got a lot more he can do and a lot more he will do." Every driver needs a team, not just of people but also equipment and resources that function together smoothly. "Once he hits that combination" Richard was confident Dale, Jr. would shine again, but during the process of ironing out the pieces, "these cars will test you."

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