RCR finalizes 2009 lineup

[MattSRD28]

RCR to announce 2009 plans: Richard Childress Racing is scheduled to make an announcement on Saturday [Aug 23rd] afternoon to outline their 2009 plans. This could be the announcement of the 4th Cup driver. Casey Mears is the latest rumored driver, with Mears taking over the #07 Jack Daniel's car and Clint Bowyer taking over the 4th car, the #33 General Miils/Cheerios Chevy. Part of the announcement could be announcing that Childress grandson, Austin Dillon, making his debut at RIR in the Nationwide Series.(8-22-2008)
UPDATE 2: Richard Childress Racing announced today that Casey Mears will drive for its #07 Jack Daniel's team and Clint Bowyer will move to its new #33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper team for the 2009 Sprint Cup Series season. With focus on having all three current RCR teams making the 2008 Chase for the Championship, RCR will continue its on-going process of evaluating team performance throughout the year to determine the crew chief, engineer and crew member lineups for the 2009 season.
"We're always looking for ways to improve RCR and feel strongly that this driver lineup will improve our company as a whole with our move to four teams next year," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of RCR. "These changes will continue to raise the bar and we have every intention of getting all four teams into the Chase in 2009 with the ultimate goal of one of our teams winning the championship. RCR is very fortunate to have partners like Jack Daniel's, Shell-Pennzoil and AT&T, in addition to new sponsors Cheerios, Hamburger Helper and Caterpillar, that work with us and support our making the competition decisions necessary to provide them with the best on-track performance possible."(RCR PR) See the full PR on my #07 Team News and Links page.(8-23-2008)

So here's the lineup:

07 - Casey Mears - Jack Daniel's Chevy
29 - Kevin Harvick - Shell/Pennzoil Chevy
31 - Jeff Burton - Caterpillar Chevy
33 - Clint Bowyer - General Mills Chevy

So aside from the 07 performing next year like it did before Bowyer got the ride, this looks to be a pretty good lineup. Childress had some pretty severe logistical transitional hurdles to jump over, and he did about as well as can be done.

 

[burtonbraves]

Glad Mears got a ride :yes:

 

[DE3]

Glad Mears got a ride :yes:

And with a quality team.

Now I hope Richard gives him and his crew chief time to gel, unlike what he's had in the past with Ganassi and Hendrick.

 

[Batman1138]

hope Mears can stay there with a sponsor and crew chief and number for a few years

 

[antknee10]

i would like to have seen Bobby Labonte take that ride. Unfortunately, he's mired in mediocrity at Petty.

 

[LeoTravis80]

I think the #07 crew would stay as they are in '09, so I think Casey's going to be okay. I trust Clint to make races in the #33 anyway.

 

[Alex Kessler]

I think the #07 crew would stay as they are in '09, so I think Casey's going to be okay. I trust Clint to make races in the #33 anyway.

I agree. Clint is a good driver and I don't see what happened at Penskee this past year happening at RCR. Does anyone know who the crew chief is going to be on the 33?

 

[LeoTravis80]

Honestly don't know, but I think they'll find someone before the year is out. Great that the #33 is back full time after many years away.

 

[Bengals]

I think RCR will have all 4 car will be in the chace next yr.

 

[dalejrgamer]

After seeing Casey's amazing trek in Hendrick, I have doubts about Casey in RCR. I hope it goes well for him.

 

[JSwanson88]

Mears sucks. Let's face it. He's not a championship-caliber driver. He never was. He never will be. He's had good equipment, and he's failed to deliver good runs. Childress is making a huge mistake putting him in the 07.

 

[jgegner]

Mears sucks. Let's face it. He's not a championship-caliber driver. He never was. He never will be. He's had good equipment, and he's failed to deliver good runs. Childress is making a huge mistake putting him in the 07.

I disagree. As others have said here, Casey simply has not had enough time to gel with his crew chief. You have to remember that when he joined Hendrick, he was in the 25 car first. When Jr. took Kyle Busch's place, Casey was then moved to the 5 car with a different crew chief. A move such as that can sometimes be distracting to a driver.

I believe if RCR gives Casey enough time for him and whoever his crew chief will be to click, then I believe he will start contending for race wins. Just my two cents.

James

 

[MattSRD28]

Mears sucks. Let's face it. He's not a championship-caliber driver. He never was. He never will be. He's had good equipment, and he's failed to deliver good runs. Childress is making a huge mistake putting him in the 07.

Well I don't think you'll see the 07 contending for a championship like they have with Bowyer at the wheel, but the available driver list is rather short. It's so short that Joey Logano's getting a Cup ride at 18 freaking years old. But that's happening because JGR obviously feels that no available fill-in driver until Logano's really ready would do any better than whatever trials & tribulations the 18 year old Logano will go through.

When Mears is compared to the list of available drivers, he looks like a really good option. So if not Mears than who? Ward Burton? Jeff Green? Jeremy Mayfield??

 

[JSwanson88]

Well I don't think you'll see the 07 contending for a championship like they have with Bowyer at the wheel, but the available driver list is rather short. It's so short that Joey Logano's getting a Cup ride at 18 freaking years old. But that's happening because JGR obviously feels that no available fill-in driver until Logano's really ready would do any better than whatever trials & tribulations the 18 year old Logano will go through.

When Mears is compared to the list of available drivers, he looks like a really good option. So if not Mears than who? Ward Burton? Jeff Green? Jeremy Mayfield??

Honestly, I think RCR should stick with 3 teams. I think he's got 3 really good drivers, who each could contend for a championship if they step up a little bit. But what do I know?

 

[MattSRD28]

Honestly, I think RCR should stick with 3 teams. I think he's got 3 really good drivers, who each could contend for a championship if they step up a little bit. But what do I know?

RCR thought so too, until General Mills came aboard and offered to sponsor the #33 team. RCR can't say no to that...

 

[nbaker9-91]

There's another good guys out there, who is not getting any credit for anything... Scott Riggs... He can drive, but he just hasn't been the focal point on his team until this year... even then he was doing bad... Haas CNC Racing is an ok team... They needed Sauter this whole year... He was in the top 35. Jeremy Mayfield had a thing going for him early on, but he lost it in 2006. He couldn't drive a Ford, he couldn't drive a Dodge, he couldn't drive a Toyota, and he couldn't drive a Chevy. For the next drivers to pick upon... Carpentier might be a good choice if you give him a car that is good... He can make races, but he hasn't been able to make anything out of that. Evernham just wasn't giving him the cars Kahne and Sadler had... A lot of good drivers will disappear in the next few years... The youth are coming up too slowly... IMO... other than Joey Logano.

 

[Fernando]

Keselowski also? I think he's ok.

 

[gr8eske_1]

The crew chief isn't always the problem, neither is the gel between a driver and crew chief. A driver who has talent can make any crew chief look like a genius (kyle Busch/Steve Addington) and other times the crew chief just may be a genius like Chad Knaus. Casey Mears just isn't that talented, he's decent and better than the other options right now but I don't think he's the factor to help RCR get over the bump and step it up to the next level.

 

[gr8eske_1]

Tony Eury Jr/Dale Jr is another example of the driver carrying a team, Eury Jr is not that bright IMO