RICHMOND, Va. — Richard Childress smiled and celebrated Saturday night. It was a contrast from recent weeks when the Hall of Fame owner has railed against his team’s cars and NASCAR’s decision makers.
There were no controversies this time. In what has been a challenging year for Richard Childress Racing, Austin Dillon’s victory at Richmond showed that the team’s retooling has moved it in the proper direction. But work remains.
At the center of this project is Childress, who will turn 80 next month. While he could let others run his team and recede into a ceremonial role, Childress remains a key figure.
“You look at our organization,” Dillon said after his sixth career Cup victory. “There’s one rock in the middle of it. That’s my grandfather. He’s always been there. He’s always the guy on top of the truck and trailer giving his all. You don’t see that from every owner out there.”
Molded by his early days in the rough-and-tumble atmosphere at Bowman Gray Stadium, Childress carried a fighter’s stubbornness and mettle into a racing career as an independent driver. His pairing with Dale Earnhardt created one of NASCAR’s most successful driver/car owner combinations and made RCR a team for the everyman.
That remains at Childress’ core.
Last month at Indianapolis, he defended Xfinity driver Austin Hill after NASCAR penalized Hill five laps for wrecking Aric Almirola. When asked if NASCAR should suspend Hill a race — the sanctioning body later did — Childress erupted with a “hell no” and said he didn’t feel his team was viewed as others were.
“It’s who you are,” Childress said. “We’re a blue-collar team. They (NASCAR) give us trouble all the time.”
Saturday night’s win was the organization’s first Cup victory since Dillon’s controversial victory last year at Richmond that saw him wreck Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap. NASCAR allowed the victory to stand but stripped Dillon and the team of the playoff eligibility that went with it — a decision that cost RCR millions of dollars in lost chartered revenue.
Tyler Reddick finished 34th after his car was damaged in an incident at Richmond.
While joyous with his grandson’s win Saturday, Childress displayed an edge about NASCAR’s decision from a year ago.
“I’ll never forget last year,” he said. “But today winning the race, I want to focus and concentrate on it.”
Success has been fleeting in recent years for Richard Childress Racing, which won the last of its six Cup titles in 1994 and hasn’t had a driver place in the top 10 in points since Ryan Newman was second in 2014.
The organization has won two races since last year but none by Kyle Busch, whose career-long winless streak stretched to 82 races after he placed 16th.
Until Saturday — when Dillon led 107 laps — the organization had led only 70 laps this year. The team still has fewer top-five finishes this season than at this point a year ago when it had four.
Highlights: NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond
Watch highlights from the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.
Childress has been outspoken about his team’s performance in recent years. Last summer, he said he was “more involved” as the team sought a turnaround.
A focus has been engineering. The organization brought in Richard Boswell, who had been at Stewart-Haas Racing until it shut down, to be Dillon’s crew chief this season. The hires also included John Klausmeier, a former crew chief and technical director at SHR who joined RCR last November as technical director.
It often takes time to see the results of change. Childress expressed his frustration with the pace of progress last month after the Dover race, which saw both team cars place outside the top 10.
“We’ve got to get some damn race cars,” Childress said on the radio of Dillon’s team. “I’ve seen enough out of our drivers and teams. We’ve got to work on this (expletive). Period.”
Childress delivered a similar message on Busch’s radio channel after that race, saying: “We’ve got to get some race cars. We are in trouble. Period.”
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Listen to the best soundbites from the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.
What changes to make hasn’t always been easy. Dillon plays a key role in the organization’s direction — a role that will grow when his driving career ends — and he admits that discussions with his grandfather gets heated at times.
“We get into arguments to the point of frustration,” Dillon said. “It’s very hard when he’s your grandfather to have an argument with him because you don’t want to argue about it. There’s certain directions we have to go to move this boat forward, right?
“I’m constantly pushing him. My brother (Ty) has stepped in now and trying to help as well. Between the two of us, we want to try to take some of the load off of him as we go.Yeah, but he’s very loyal to a fault almost. He really takes great care of those that are around him. We just push him to try and make change at some point in time.
“He usually has a way about it where you tell him one thing and he’s going to get upset about it. Then two weeks later (he’ll) turn around (and say), ‘What do you think about this?’ That’s a great idea, man. I love that.”
Saturday, after the team’s 118th Cup victory, Childress was as happy as after many other wins.
“You never take winning for granted,” he said.
