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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: RCR Puts Three In Top-10 At Texas
Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was just the kind of outing that Richard Childress Racing wanted...
Jared Turner  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted November 09, 2009   Fort Worth, TX
RCR’s Kevin Harvick finished fifth at Texas Sunday, followed by teammate Clint Bowyer in seventh and Jeff Burton in ninth. RCR’s fourth driver, Casey Mears, finished 21st. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was just the kind of outing that Richard Childress Racing wanted.

Nearing the end to a disappointing season by the six-time Cup champion organization’s standards, RCR placed three of its four cars in the top nine at Texas.

Kevin Harvick finished fifth, followed by teammate Clint Bowyer in seventh and RCR’s Jeff Burton in ninth. RCR’s fourth driver, Casey Mears, finished 21st.

Harvick moved up in the final running order by stretching his last tank of fuel to the finish when many of the leaders ducked on to pit road for a splash of gas in the closing laps. The finish gave Harvick his first top-five since a runnerup effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sept. 6.

And the overall performance of RCR was a shot in the arm for the organization, which remains winless in 2009 after failing to place any of its drivers in NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup.

RCR put all three of drivers in NASCAR’s 10-race championship-determining playoff in 2007 and 2008 before adding a fourth team this year.

“The Shell-Pennzoil Chevy was a good car all day. I think we were running seventh or eighth there and just decided to go for it at the end [on fuel],” Harvick said. “[We] came up about a lap short there but a great call by [crew chief] Gil [Martin] to just give it a whirl and see what happened in the end."

While Burton wasn’t RCR’s top performer in the race, he probably overcame the most adversity over the course of the weekend. The veteran driver started at the rear of the field in a backup car following a crash in Friday’s opening practice session at the 1.5-mile track.

The finish gave Burton his second top-10 in as many starts with crew chief Todd Berrier, who RCR moved over from Mears’ No. 07 team prior to last weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Burton placed fifth in that event – his first without former crew chief Scott Miller, who was promoted to RCR’s director of competition.

"What a heck of a run with the … team,” Burton said. “These guys fought hard after we had to load up our primary Chevy when it received too much damage when I hit the wall. Todd did a great job dialing in our back up for the race and what a great way to end the weekend."

Bowyer was the most consistent RCR car throughout the race at Texas, running in the top 10 for much of the 334-lap event before ultimately settling for seventh.

"Our car was tight all day,” Bowyer said. “[Crew chief] Shane [Wilson] made a call to short pit for fuel in order to make it to the end. The cards fell in our favor and were able to grab a seventh-place finish.

“Wish we could have had a better finish but, all in all, it's a good result and another top-10 to add to our 2009 resume."




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Jared Turner

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