All four Richard Childress Racing teams struggle in Monday's Cup race
CONCORD, N.C. – The folks at Richard Childress Racing would likely prefer to soon forget the 2009 Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
None of the four RCR drivers finished in the top half of the finishing order Monday, and Jeff Burton was the “best” of the four RCR cars at 25th. Burton was also the only RCR car on the lead lap.
"Well, this isn't the way we wanted to end the Coca-Cola 600,” Burton said. “The Caterpillar Chevy handled OK until I made contact with the wall. That made it really tight, and unfortunately, [we] lost some track position because of it. I wish the rain would have held off so we could fix it and go back racing, but we'll just save it for Dover."
Casey Mears finished one lap down in 33rd in the No. 07 entry, with Clint Bowyer a lap down in 36th in the No. 33 car. Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 made contact with another car early in the race, hit the wall and limped home to a 41st-place finish, three laps down.
"What a day. It just wasn't our weekend,” said Harvick, who also struggled in his own Kevin Harvick Inc. Nationwide Series Chevrolet on Saturday. “I got together with the 77 [of Sam Hornish Jr.], like, 10 laps into the race.
“Then a tire went down and I hit the wall and messed up the fender. Later on, we got a speeding penalty. I was asking myself, 'What's next?'”
Harvick also summed up the feelings for RCR.
“I'm sorry for the fans that they didn't get to see 600 miles,” he said, “but I'm not sad this day's over."
