Jeff Burton stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. (Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images)
What’s wrong with Richard Childress Racing?
“I’m not trying to be a smart guy here when I say this,” RCR driver Jeff Burton said, “but if we knew what the problem was we wouldn’t have it.”
But clearly there is something wrong at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team. Only one of RCR’s four drivers, Burton, is in the top 12 in the series standings, which means the other three have work to do to make the Chase For The Sprint Cup.
Coming off a difficult Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where Burton posted the “best” finish of 25th among the organization’s drivers, Clint Bower is 17th in points, Casey Mears 22nd and Kevin Harvick 23rd.
“The two weeks at Charlotte were pretty miserable for all of us,” Burton said. “It’s pretty important, I think, to have a good race here and show we can compete. This is a really hard race track. This is one of the biggest challenges that we do all year. This track’s a real test. We need to get our solid footing back underneath us. Hopefully, we can do that this week.”
The footing has been slippery lately. Only Burton has a top-five finish in the last six races, and neither Bowyer nor Harvick has finished inside the top 10 over that span.
Burton said one thing that has hurt RCR is NASCAR’s ban on testing. Sure, no other teams have been able to test either, but RCR, Harvick said, benefited from testing in recent seasons.
