Jeff Burton: Kevin Harvick expected to leave RCR at end of 2010 season
Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton missed making the Chase For The Sprint Cup this season for the first time since 2005. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
CONCORD, N.C. – Richard Childress Racing driver Jeff Burton acknowledged on Thursday that teammate Kevin Harvick is expected to leave the company when his contract runs out at the end of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
Burton, speaking at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, was asked about Harvick’s comments in a prerace television interview last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway where the 2007 Daytona 500 winner indicated he doesn’t plan to compete for RCR beyond 2010.
“I think that everybody is behaving in a very professional manner, and everybody is understanding that Kevin has a year left on his contract and he’s going to do everything in his power to do the best job for RCR [and] RCR’s going to do everything in their power to do their best job for him,” Burton said. “[Teammate] Clint [Bowyer] and I are going to continue to work with Kevin the same way we always have, and I think we’re going to work together better actually – not because he’s leaving but because we need to. And things change. Kevin may look around eight months, 10 months from now and say, ‘You know what: Things have really changed here, and I really think this is the place that we’re going.’ By his interview he indicated that wasn’t going to happen, but you never know. “
Harvick, who has been with RCR’s Cup program since being tabbed to replace Dale Earnhardt following the seven-time series champion’s death on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, hasn’t won a points-paying event since his Daytona 500 triumph in the 2007 season opener.
Harvick missed the Chase this year and is 21st in the standings. The Bakersfield, Calif., native has 11 wins in 316 Cup starts, all with RCR.
“The reality of it is if you lose a driver the caliber of Kevin Harvick we have to have a seat available that a Kevin Harvick-caliber driver wants,” Burton said. “And the only way we’re going to do that is to put a race car out there that’s highly competitive. At the end of the day it’s about performance.”
Burton, of course, has endured his own struggles this season, failing to win a race and missing the Chase for the first time in four seasons. The South Boston, Va., native is 18th in the standings heading into Saturday night’s NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where he claimed his most recent victory in this race one year ago.
Does Burton believe that RCR, which put all of its teams in the Chase for the last two years but none in 2009, has turned the corner?
“I think we’ve made a swing,” he said. “I don’t that we’re where we need to be by any means, but if you look at individually, our teams are starting to run better. Collectively, we’re starting to run better. On every weekend over the last couple months, one of our teams has been a strong top-six, top-seven team.
“We haven’t gotten to the place where we’re all doing that yet, but there’s certainly a trend toward running better and getting where we need to be. We’re not there yet. We’re still not leading laps and doing the things we really need to be able to do on a consistent basis, but I think we’re gaining on it without a doubt.”
Burton believes NASCAR’s ban on testing this season at all Cup, Nationwide, Truck, East and West series tracks continues to haunt RCR, which hasn’t been to victory lane in 2009 with any of its four drivers.
But Burton doesn’t believe all the blame for the organization’s struggles should fall on team owner Richard Childress, noting that the company lacked the structure and support to find speed in areas outside of testing.
“As things changed in the sport, we didn’t change quick enough, and we’re all guilty of that,” he said. “That’s not Richard’s fault. Richard relies on the people that work for him to provide him with insight. The owner of the company can’t always be the guy that looks and sees what’s going to happen three years from now.
“He has to have help from the people in the company, and we collectively didn’t do a good job at that. So we’re playing catch-up right now. We will catch up but we are behind.”
