RCR shows renewed superspeedway strength

Four RCR machines run strong at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. - The restrictor-plate gap appears to be closing, if it isn't already shut.

One of the teams doing the closing was Richard Childress Racing, which put two cars in the top five and had another car in 14th place in Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

AARON'S 499 Gordon celebrates his first win of the 2004 season Play video Johnson and Stewart discuss their performances Play video Gordon edges Junior as the race ends under caution Play video The Big One collects 11 cars on Lap 83 Play video Drivers react and place blame after The Big One Play video Kenseth spins in the tri-oval but avoids disaster Play video Johnson cuts a tire and Kenseth's engine blows Play video  •  Results  •  Standings

Kevin Harvick led four times for 13 laps and finished third after a NASCAR review, Robby Gordon led four times for 22 laps and rookie Johnny Sauter survived a wild race to finish 14th.

And other drivers took notice.

"A lot of teams have stepped it up," winner Jeff Gordon said. "The Childress cars were extremely tough."

"The Childress guys made some huge gains," fourth-place Jimmie Johnson said. "They were really, really racy all day long."

Harvick posted his fourth career top-five finish in a plate race, while Robby Gordon had the best finish of his career at Talladega. And Sauter matched the best finish of his brief time in Nextel Cup.

And don't forget about Kerry Earnhardt, who ran well in a fourth RCR car before a spin and crash knocked him from the race.

But while it was a good day for RCR, Harvick and Gordon both wondered what could've been.

"Damn it, man," Gordon said to Harvick as they walked off pit road.

"That was fun," Harvick replied.

For one day at least, it seemed all was well with Harvick and Gordon, teammates who have not seen eye-to-eye in the past.

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But Sunday at Talladega, the No. 29 and No. 31 cars worked well.

"The last couple laps, I had the right people behind me," Harvick said. "I had the 31 and the 41. Those are the people I worked the best with all day. I'm just proud of those whole RCR crew.

"We worked better today than we ever had. I think it showed with two cars in the top five. A good day."

And a pretty good weekend, too. Ron Hornaday finished third in Saturday's Aaron's 312 Busch Series race, while Clint Bowyer won the pole and ran well before getting in a crash in the closing laps. Gordon, driving one of his own cars with RCR power, finished sixth.

	Kerry Earnhardt

"Great weekend for RCR," Gordon said. "We finished seventh in the Busch race and led this race for a while. We had a lot of fun. Disappointed that we didn't get to pull into Victory Lane, but we keep working hard every week.

"Richard Childress Racing does a good job giving us racecars."

Especially on plate tracks, it seems. Have they caught up to DEI?

"We're getting closer every week," Gordon said. "DEI is obviously an established race team that wins at restrictor-plate races."

An RCR car didn't win Sunday, but all three drivers came close. Even Sauter, who ended up outside the top 10, could have been up front.

"This is a good day," Sauter said. "We finished on the lead lap in the top-15. What else can you say? We didn't cause the big one. I made a mistake there and picked the wrong line on that last restart.

	Robby Gordon (31) scored his best-ever Talladega finish.

"Probably cost me about six spots. Probably could have got us our first top-10, but that's being a Raybestos Rookie and figuring I could make something happen that I couldn't make happen."

Harvick and Gordon didn't have that excuse, and they proved they knew what they were doing by leading so many times.

"The most important thing is we were competitive all day long," Gordon said. "We ran inside the top five all day long and finished fifth. It was no fluke."

Neither was it for Harvick.

"These guys at RCR work extra hard on our speedway stuff," Harvick said. "They take a lot of pride in it. I'm hoping one of these times I'm going to be in the right spot coming to the checkered.

"We've run so good the last two years on these restrictor-plate tracks. Sooner or later, we're going to get a win."