Tag: Richard Childress Racing

Latest update on Richard Childress Racing’s efforts to buy a NASCAR charter

What is the latest update on Richard Childress Racing’s efforts to buy a third NASCAR charter? It appears to be trending in one direction.

[autotag]Richard Childress Racing[/autotag] has been mentioned as one NASCAR team that could acquire a charter following Stewart-Haas Racing’s announcement of shutting down after 2024. However, the organization’s performance has been below average, creating questions about its future. On Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing’s efforts to buy a charter received an update.

According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, it is less likely than it was a month ago that Richard Childress Racing will acquire a charter. This comes after Gene Haas decided to keep one for Haas Factory Team, which will have one full-time entry. If Richard Childress Racing doesn’t buy one elsewhere, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch would be in the expected lineup.

Richard Childress Racing has been struggling and must find a way to turn it around quickly. Due to these performances, it may not be logical to stretch resources and field another full-time entry in the NASCAR Cup Series. Richard Childress Racing has a long and storied history in the sport, but time is running out to fix the issues within the organization in 2024.

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Andy Petree retires from Richard Childress Racing effective immediately

Richard Childress Racing announced that Executive Vice President Andy Petree has retired, effective immediately in June 2024.

[autotag]Richard Childress Racing[/autotag] made a shocking announcement on Tuesday. [autotag]Andy Petree[/autotag], the executive vice president, has retired, effective immediately. Keith Rodden has been appointed interim competition director of Richard Childress Racing ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.

Petree joined Richard Childress Racing in 1993 as a crew chief and helped guide Dale Earnhardt Sr. to his final two Cup Series championships. In 2017, Petree re-joined Richard Childress Racing as its new Vice President of Competition. Since November 2023, the 65-year-old has held the position of executive vice president at Richard Childress Racing.

This is a shocking development, as Petree won’t end until the end of the 2024 NASCAR season. Rodden will take over immediately amid a season that has featured significant struggles for the Cup Series program. Richard Childress Racing must find more pace soon as Kyle Busch sits below the playoff cut-line, and Rodden will have more responsibility in making it happen.

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‘I’m pretty excited to come over and have a go’ – Brown

Will Brown is finally getting to “have a go” at NASCAR racing this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. “It’s cool to come over here,” Brown said Friday. “Watching what SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) did last year, a lot of Aussies have paid a lot of attention to …

Will Brown is finally getting to “have a go” at NASCAR racing this weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

“It’s cool to come over here,” Brown said Friday. “Watching what SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) did last year, a lot of Aussies have paid a lot of attention to NASCAR now and I’m pretty excited to come over and have a go. I was lucky enough to put a deal together with Richard (Childress) — we were able to have him out to Australia at the end of last year and made that connection.”

Brown is in a third Childress entry for the Cup Series race, piloting the No. 33 Chevrolet. Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, the organization’s primary drivers, are well familiar with Brown as the three have competed together in an endurance race during the winter.

“It was cool to put a deal together last minute,” Brown said of competing in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. “Hopefully we’ll have a good weekend.”

The Toowoomba, Australia native currently leads the Supercars Championship point standings. Cup cars and Supercars are similar, but Brown will adjust to shifting with his right hand all weekend.

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He has, however, been getting as up-to-speed as possible in the simulator. It started with an hour three weeks ago when he came to the United States, where he used the sim to familiarize himself with Sonoma. This week Brown piggybacked off Dillon’s simulator time to get another hour and then took Busch’s entire scheduled session when the two-time NASCAR champion was in Indianapolis for the Goodyear tire test.

“That’s something we don’t use back at home,” Brown said. “There are no simulators. We can use a cheaper sort of one in our house, but we don’t have that sort of facility or infrastructure. It was cool to get on it. I think we had a really good simulator session…the last time on Wednesday, and I seem to know the track pretty well.”

Brown is reserving his expectations for the weekend until after getting through practice and qualifying. It doesn’t go unnoticed what van Gisbergen has done since he arrived in NASCAR, starting with a win out of the gate last year in Chicago.

“Shane…doing what he did makes it hard for the Aussies to come out now,” Brown said. “It’s like a letdown if we don’t win. I think Shane’s been running inside the top 10 for his last couple of road course runs, so that would be great if we could do that.”

Brown was third fastest in Friday’s Cup Series practice session.

Brown to become latest Supercars driver to compete in NASCAR

Will Brown, the current Supercars Championship point leader, will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut next month at Sonoma Raceway with Richard Childress Racing. Brown will drive the No. 33 MobileX Chevrolet. Sonoma, which is Sunday, June 9, is the …

Will Brown, the current Supercars Championship point leader, will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut next month at Sonoma Raceway with Richard Childress Racing. Brown will drive the No. 33 MobileX Chevrolet. Sonoma, which is Sunday, June 9, is the second road course race of the season.

“It’s just an incredible opportunity to be able to come out and race at the highest level in America,” Brown said. “I am extremely thankful to Richard Childress and everyone at Richard Childress Racing for the opportunity. I’ve been interested in NASCAR since I started racing Supercars, and even more so since the recent wave of success that some international drivers have had crossing over into the NASCAR Cup Series.

“I’ve got some great sponsors that have supported me for a long time in Australia, and I’m lucky enough that MobileX is joining us for the race, along with a long-term partner of mine, Shaw and Partners. Incredibly thankful also for Motorola and everyone else who has come on board for the race. It’s been massive to get everyone to support the program, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. I’m looking forward to the race and have been working hard to prepare.”

Brown will drive a third entry for the RCR organization alongside Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch for the June 9 event. The three are familiar with each other after competing together for Childress in an endurance race at Circuit of The Americas in December.

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NASCAR’s recent wave of international drivers, particularly from Supercars, started with Shane van Gisbergen winning on the streets of Chicago last summer. Childress then fielded Brodie Kostecki at the Indianapolis road course in late 2023 and Cam Waters made his Craftsman Truck Series debut earlier this year.

Waters will also be entered at Sonoma for the Cup Series race driving for RFK Racing, while van Gisbergen is now a full-time NASCAR driver with Kaulig Racing.

Brown is a native of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He sits atop the Supercars championship points with three wins through 10 races and nine podiums.

“Will Brown has had success racing in Australia and New Zealand and we’re looking forward to having him race with RCR in the No. 33 MobileX Chevrolet,” said Richard Childress. “I’ve stayed in touch with Will since he came over in December to race with us, and he has proven to be a disciplined and passionate racer. His start with RCR is a continuation of a long-standing investment that RCR has made in finding and honing talent and looking beyond U.S. motorsports.”

Austin Dillon signed long-term extension with Richard Childress Racing in 2024

Austin Dillon recently signed a long-term extension to stay in the No. 3 car for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

[autotag]Austin Dillon[/autotag]’s future with [autotag]Richard Childress Racing[/autotag] has been a significant topic of conversation lately. Dillon has struggled in the No. 3 car, as he sits 31st in the point standings, only above Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, and Zane Smith. Despite those struggles, Dillon’s future in the NASCAR Cup Series appears to be secured beyond 2024.

According to The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi, Dillon recently signed a multi-year contract extension to continue driving the No. 3 car for Richard Childress Racing. The 34-year-old driver’s performances have been baffling. Dillon only has two top-20 finishes in 14 races, with a best finish of eighth place at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dillon has really struggled after the 2022 NASCAR season, with only one top-5 finish and eight top-10 finishes in the last 50 races. Yet, Dillon’s seat is safe for the foreseeable future. Richard Childress Racing must find a way to unlock the potential of the No. 3 team because Dillon hasn’t been competitive since his win at Daytona International Speedway in August 2022.

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Richard Childress Racing signs new driver for NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma

Richard Childress Racing has signed a new driver for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway. Who will drive the team’s third entry?

[autotag]Richard Childress Racing[/autotag] has utilized its third NASCAR Cup Series car more often since the start of the 2023 NASCAR season and it continued at Texas Motor Speedway. Austin Hill drove the No. 33 Cup car before going to the garage for steering issues. Now, Richard Childress Racing has picked up a new driver for the No. 33 car in 2024.

According to V8 Sleuth’s Stefan Bartholomaeus, Supercars Championship driver Will Brown is scheduled to drive the No. 33 car in the Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway. Brown currently leads the Supercars Championship point standings with a 71-point cushion and has three wins. The 25-year-old driver replaced Shane van Gisbergen at Red Bull.

Brodie Kostecki is another Supercars Championship driver who drove for Richard Childres Racing in 2023, competing at the Indianapolis  Road Course. However, it appears that Kostecki won’t be behind the wheel of a car in NASCAR this season. Brown now has a major opportunity in good equipment at Sonoma in June.

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Busch grateful to have a ‘normal day’ at Dover

Kyle Busch picked up his second top-10 finish in three weeks at Dover Motor Speedway in a day his Richard Childress Racing team needed. “A good day for the No. 8 car, a good solid points day, I guess,” Busch said after finishing in fourth place. …

Kyle Busch picked up his second top-10 finish in three weeks at Dover Motor Speedway in a day his Richard Childress Racing team needed.

“A good day for the No. 8 car, a good solid points day, I guess,” Busch said after finishing in fourth place. “That’s a normal day. I’d love to have a lot more normal days; we just can’t seem to get any.”

Busch started from the pole and led the first 34 laps, but he never controlled the race again after losing the top spot to Ryan Blaney, who drove around him under green.

The No. 8 Camaro was a contender in the Wurth 400 and had an average running position of fifth place. The two-time series champion finished seventh in the first stage and sixth in the second stage.

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“[I’m] proud of everybody on this FICO Chevrolet,” Busch said. “The car was pretty decent. I felt like if we came off of pit road there at the end with the clean racetrack the way that it was, and being able to just charge forward [to] try to catch these leaders, that was probably going to be our best bet to try to run them down and race with them. But definitely had a third-place car today.

“Having to come from eighth to fourth on that final run right there was really, really tough, but that’s all we had.”

Sunday was Busch’s best finish on a non-superspeedway. A third-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the second race of the season, is his best effort of the season. The 34 laps he led at Dover are the most he’s led in a race this season.

RCR might takes Love to maiden Xfinity win at Talladega

Jesse Love earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday in a typically wild double overtime finish in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – crossing the line by a slight 0.141s ahead of Riley Herbst. It many ways, it …

Jesse Love earned his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday in a typically wild double overtime finish in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – crossing the line by a slight 0.141s ahead of Riley Herbst.

It many ways, it was victorious redemption for the 19-year old Californian, who earlier this season was leading the race in overtime at Atlanta only to run out of fuel before the checkered flag. Love’s win in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet makes him only the seventh driver to score his maiden win at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

“Just a great group of guys [on my team] and it’s been such a journey to get to this point,’’ a grinning Love said before thanking a litany of people that helped him in his young career to date.

“I had PTSD flashbacks from Atlanta,’’ Love acknowledged, adding “I love Talladega. I love the speedway and I love the fans.”

 

Love certainly earned this first win – starting on the outside of the front row next to his veteran RCR teammate Austin Hill, winning his fourth stage of the season (Stage 1) and leading 28 of the 124 laps. He ran top five for most of the afternoon and when he needed to go on that final restart, he went. Jumping to the lead at the overtime green flag and holding off the field when it mattered most.

His RCR teammate Hill, the polesitter, led a race-best 42 laps and was out front with two laps remaining in regulation when he was hit from behind by Parker Kligerman. The incident sent Hill’s car into the wall and ultimately collected nine cars, including many that had been running toward the front much of the afternoon – putting the race in overtime.

On the ensuing overtime restart, Kligerman was eliminated in a four-car crash at the front as various cars started running out of gas in the field. Love lined up on the front row for the final restart among eight drivers racing for their career first wins.

Herbst’s runner-up finish in the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was his best showing of the year. Our Motorsports Anthony Alfredo finished third, followed by Young’s Motorsports rookie Leland Honeyman and Alpha Prime Racing’s Brennan Poole. Alfredo tied his career best mark and Honeyman had a career best finish.

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Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed, Alpha Prime Racing’s Caesar Bacarella, Viking Motorsports’s Matt DiBenedetto, 2023 Talladega winner, Jordan Anderson Racing’s Jeb Burton and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer rounded out the top 10.

There were 34 lead changes among 16 drivers in a typically Talladega afternoon.

Ryan Sieg, who lost to Sam Mayer last week at Texas Motor Speedway in a photo finish – by 0.002s – won the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus.

An 11-car accident on lap 65 proved critical to several race frontrunners as well as Dash 4 Cash eligible drivers.

Herbst hit Justin Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy with only two laps left in the opening stage – both vying for a top 10 and some early stage points. It eliminated Allgaier from contention. Mayer was eliminated in a later multi-car crash and that left an intriguing battle between Sieg, who had to make a green flag late race pit stop because of a flat tire and A.J. Allmendinger, whose car was damaged in a crash.

Sieg and Allmendinger lined up 19th and 20th respectively on the second overtime restart and Sieg was able to pull away, finishing 17th with Allmendinger 19th.

“This is huge for our team,’’ Sieg said. “It was a rough one. I thought I threw it away, but [we were] lucky enough to get the caution at the end and come back and beat the No. 16. So it all worked out and is pretty extraordinary for our small team.”

Not only does he win the Dash 4 Cash paycheck, but Sieg will compete against Love, Herbst and Alfredo next week at Dover, Del. for the final race of the incentive program.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith, who finished 25th, still holds a 14-point lead over Custer atop the championship standings.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the one-mile Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway next week for Saturday’s BetRivers 200 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ryan Truex is the defending race winner.

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Talladega the best chance to turn season around for Busch and RCR

Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is a chance for many in the NASCAR Cup Series field to turn things around with one race, which is good news for defending winner Kyle Busch. Busch is expected to be a factor, as superspeedway events have …

Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway is a chance for many in the NASCAR Cup Series field to turn things around with one race, which is good news for defending winner Kyle Busch.

Busch is expected to be a factor, as superspeedway events have been a strength of the team. The two-time series champion had one of the best opportunities of his career to win the Daytona 500 for the first time last season before he prevailed at Talladega two months later. Busch has led laps in eight of his nine superspeedway races driving the No. 8 Chevrolet.

“It’s [an opportunity race] for everybody, right?” Busch said after qualifying fourth. “But I think it is for us as well, too, just having good stuff at these places. It seems the cars have an easier time or a better opportunity of making something [happen] on their own than where I previously was.”

Busch credited Richard Childress Racing and ECR engines for building fast race cars. That means it’s “fun” for Busch to visit the superspeedway venues of Daytona, Atlanta, and Talladega and know he’s got a shot at victory.

Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET, Fox) will be the 31st start since Busch and his team last went to victory lane. The triumph in St. Louis in early June was the third win in his first season driving for Childress, but it’s been a battle since then. He finished 20th or worse in five of the final 10 races and finished 14th in the standings.

A quarter of the season is complete, and Busch is 16th in the standings with no stage wins and 26 stage points. He earned his third top-10 finish a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway.

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“Obviously we have not been anywhere where we need to be this year,” crew chief Randall Burnett told NASCAR.com last weekend. “We started off and had some speed the first couple of races, but it’s been a downward slide for us since then, so we’re going to keep working on it. Everybody at RCR and ECR is working really hard; we’ve got a long way to go to get to where we need to be, especially with Kyle, and to get this No. 8 car back up front.”

Busch has led 63 laps in nine races, the bulk coming in the first three races at Daytona, Atlanta and Las Vegas. In that stretch, he finished 12th, third and 26th. Then came a three-week stretch where a 22nd-place finish was Busch’s best effort. He has not led since Bristol Motor Speedway last month.

The inconsistency led Busch to describe his season a few weeks ago as “a lot of missed potential.” Although there have been times that he felt his cars have had good speed, there have been numerous things that have hindered the results.

As it stands – and there are 16 races remaining in the regular season, including Talladega — Busch is near the bubble spot on the playoff grid. He’s never missed the postseason in the elimination era.

“The points will take care of themselves if you run better and run well and can get stage points and get good finishes,” Busch said of his points position. “We obviously haven’t been doing that lately, and I presume we’re lower than we want to be, but that’s just the nature of what we got right now.”

Hill set for four Cup Series races with Childress

Austin Hill will run four NASCAR Cup Series races this season with Richard Childress Racing, beginning at Texas Motor Speedway next week. Hill’s other three races with the team will be announced later. Hill will be in a third entry for the …

Austin Hill will run four NASCAR Cup Series races this season with Richard Childress Racing, beginning at Texas Motor Speedway next week. Hill’s other three races with the team will be announced later.

Hill will be in a third entry for the organization, the No. 33 Chevrolet, with sponsorship from United Rentals. A full-time competitor for Childress in the Xfinity Series, United Rentals has long supported Hill in NASCAR.

“United Rentals has supported me throughout all of the key moments of my racing career so far, which makes their involvement in my upcoming NASCAR Cup Series starts for Richard Childress Racing that much more special,” Hill said. “I’m happy to have another opportunity to race in the Cup Series for RCR. The amount of success that we’ve been able to accomplish together in the Xfinity Series makes me excited for this slate of races.

“It’s not going to be easy competing against the best drivers on Sundays, but I’m thankful to Richard, everyone at RCR, and United Rentals for allowing this Cup Series schedule to come to life. Racing a Next Gen Chevrolet at a mile-and-a-half will be a new challenge, but one that I’m looking forward to.”

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Hill has made six starts in the Cup Series since 2022, most of them with Childress affiliate team Beard Motorsports. However, his debut was in the No. 33 for Childress at Michigan International Speedway in August 2022. A 14th-place finish at Daytona in the summer race last year is Hill’s best effort in the series.

“We’re proud to represent a great brand like United Rentals and to be a part of their efforts to help Austin achieve success at the next level,” said Torrey Galida, president of RCR. “United Rentals is a longtime supporter of our sport, and they have done a superb job of using their relationship with Austin to achieve their business goals from an on-site activation and hosting standpoint.”