Richard Childress' development program has produced Clint Bowyer, who will drive the Jack Daniel's No. 07 Chevrolet in 2006. Credit: Autostock

RCR increases efforts of developmental program

Veteran owner out to mold Duncan, Fisher, others into top drivers

Richard Childress Racing's driver development program is crisscrossing the United States, and the 2006 NASCAR racing season hasn't even begun.

The veteran team owner, who seriously began attempting to develop future talent for his teams in the Nextel Cup and Busch Series in 2003 when he formed a partnership with West Coast owner Bill McAnally, will have his most aggressive program yet in 2006.

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Childress' program is two-pronged, with pairs of drivers in programs tagged "driver development," which includes Peyton Sellers and Sarah Fisher and "driver diversity," for Allison Duncan and Peter Hernandez.

"NASCAR racing has become so competitive in the past couple of years, having a strong development program is very important," Childress said. "Like everything else in this business, you have to be thinking about the future all the time to stay competitive right now.

"Last year, Sarah Fisher and Allison Duncan raced for the program we put together with Bill McAnally Racing [BMR] in California. They're with us this season in two other programs and we're excited about moving Peyton Sellers and Peter Hernandez into the BMR program.

"We've doubled our development program from last year and have high expectations for all four drivers."

Duncan won two Dodge Weekly Racing Series Late Model feature events at California's Stockton 99 Speedway and finished second in the track's 2005 Late Model championship.

The first victory occurred in early June and, as far as the former sports car racer was concerned, the timing was perfect as it fell right after Danica Patrick's strong performance in the Indianapolis 500, where Patrick led late in the race before finishing fourth.

"The timing was fortunate for me, because [the win] came right after the Indy 500, when everyone was looking for female drivers in NASCAR," Duncan said. "The fact that I was able to go out there and win, and that I had the RCR development deal made everyone say, 'who is this girl?'

"I didn't start racing two months ago. I've been here for a long time trying to get this done, and trying to race, but it was definitely huge and one of the coolest things I've done."

As every member of RCR's development team agreed, having the prestige and resources of the veteran owner, who previously labored through a long career as an owner/driver, has been priceless.

"This definitely was the biggest step I've made in my career," Duncan said in the middle of 2005. "Just being associated with somebody like Richard Childress, and the fact that he wants to know on Monday morning how my race on Saturday night went, is huge.

"He has so much influence and can make my career in a heartbeat, and if he really feels that I have potential and that I have what it takes, he can make it happen for me.

"And the opportunity to drive for someone like Bill McAnally [was] great because he's developed a lot of great drivers like Brendan Gaughan, who drove for him for several years and Austin Cameron [who both won championships with McAnally]."

Sellers, 22, who won the 2005 Dodge Weekly Racing Series national championship while driving Late Model Stock Cars primarily at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, will go west to race in the AutoZone West Series, the former Winston West Series.

"This is hopefully the beginning of a long relationship I'll have with Richard Childress Racing," Sellers said. "I've been fairly successful so far in my racing career and this is another step on that path.

"The development program between Richard Childress Racing and Bill McAnally Racing has been pretty successful so far. To step into one of the top teams in the series right off the bat and shoot for the championship puts a little pressure on me but it's something that will give me some momentum."

Sellers, a native of Danville, Va., will drive McAnally's No. 16 Chevrolet, which is a former multiple West Series championship winner. Sellers is also being considered for some select Busch East races as well as "a few" Busch Series events.

"I grew up going to CKI (Competition Karting Inc., whose building is located on what is now the RCR campus) and you had to drive right by RCR," Sellers said. "I used to see that big No. 3 car on the showroom floor and think, 'Man, I'd love to be there some day.'

"Now it's a reality. I've seen RCR take Clint Bowyer from dirt-track racing to BMR to Nextel Cup and, hopefully, I'm on that same path."

McAnally first worked with RCR in 2003 when he fielded cars for Bowyer and Kerry Earnhardt in West Series events.

To try to continue her progression, Duncan, a San Rafael, Calif., native will come east, where she raced in Hickory Motor Speedway's Late Model Stock Car division in 2003 and 2004, to compete this season in the LMSC class at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va.

Duncan, who won LMSC Rookie of the Year honors her first season at Hickory and then finished fifth in the championship in 2004 -- prior to joining RCR's development program -- will drive a No. 29 Chevrolet at Motor Mile, the former New River Valley Speedway.

RCR is also considering fielding Duncan in a limited number of Busch East Series and ARCA RE/MAX Series races later in the season if she continues to show promise.

"I'm at a point where I've been able to cultivate relationships with sponsors such as Miller Brewing, Domino's Pizza and NAPA Auto Parts," Duncan said. "And hopefully I'll be able to build those into something bigger and better.

"I'm in a pretty incredible position right now. I may just be racing a Late Model, but I'm still in a good position."

Duncan, Fisher and Sellers all tested one of Childress' Busch cars near the end of last season at Caraway Speedway, a half-mile asphalt oval in Asheboro, N.C.

Fisher, 25, who raced primarily for McAnally in the West Series in 2005, switches coasts in 2006, where she'll race in the Busch East Series as well as the RE/MAX Series.

RCR plans a schedule of more than 10 races that will be held primarily in conjunction with the Nextel Cup Series. Fisher may also do some stand-alone events in those series, an RCR spokesman said.

Sarah Fisher Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

While Fisher is a relative newcomer to NASCAR, having made her first start in a West Series race in October 2004 for McAnally at Phoenix, she had an extensive career in the IRL IndyCar Series, where she was most popular driver from 2001-2003.

She repeated that distinction in the 2005 West Series, and last year shared a lot of her experiences with her RCR teammate.

"Sarah and I have spent a lot of time talking about her experiences in the IRL and with certain sponsors and team owners," Duncan said. "She's been able to give me a lot of advice as to what to look for, what situations to be careful not to get yourself into or what situations are going to help me, because she obviously has a lot of experience that I don't.

"She's been there and done that, so she's been able to give me a lot of help."

Fisher ended the 2005 West Series season with consecutive top-10 finishes, sixth at Texas Motor Speedway and sixth at Phoenix, where she made her debut a year earlier.

"I considered this to be an investment year for me," Fisher said at mid-season. "I'm investing in my future, and even though I'm not running as many races as I wanted to, it's all about patience and it's all about people.

"I really believe that I'm with the right people and I've got to have patience and hopefully this will come together."

With her intense IndyCar background, Fisher had to rethink a lot of her previous career lessons when she moved to heavier, less nimble stock cars.

"The fact that you've got to turn them once or twice -- you've really got to manhandle them a lot more than an Indy car, which is really smooth," Fisher said of her biggest adjustment. "Just learning to do that and learning that that's OK was an adjustment in itself."

Hernandez, a native of Blue Island, Ill., who won the 2004 Mid American Stock Car Series championship, will replace Duncan in the No. 20 Chevrolet that McAnally fielded at Stockton 99.

Duncan was the first driver in NASCAR's diversity program to win a feature race, but typically she said the most pressure she felt was self-inflicted.

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"The biggest adjustment I had to make [in 2005] was not letting all the outside pressures and all the outside stuff that's going on affect me," Duncan said. "I really have put a lot of pressure on myself to win a race because I wanted to win and I wanted to win early.

"The diversity program went all of last year without one, so NASCAR was really excited when one of their [diversity] drivers got a win. But to just get in the car and block all that out was tough, because I want to win for myself."

And Duncan previewed something Sellers may find he craves before the 2006 season is done.

"It was kind of nice to be out [west] away from all of the hustle and bustle that goes on in Charlotte, for the whole NASCAR world," said Duncan, who lived in the Carolinas while racing at Hickory. "It's a little less pressure, I guess, to not be racing right underneath the nose of everybody in NASCAR.

"I initially was worried that that might be a bad thing, like out of sight, out of mind. But like I said, when Richard Childress wants a call every Monday morning, it really doesn't matter where I'm racing because as long as he's concerned and he's involved and he's up to date on what I'm doing; it really doesn't matter where I race."

Fisher agreed that the development group's current status is best for her.

"I think in any [motor-]sport any female needs to get in the best equipment, otherwise it's very difficult to shine," Fisher said. "You can't win with less, and that's proven in every level from Nextel Cup to go-karts. I think the biggest challenge for anyone is to get in the very best equipment so I believe in RCR and I believe in the path that I'm taking and hopefully it will all pan out."

This season fits nicely with Duncan's tentative five-year plan.

"My goal is to get as much experience as I can in bigger, faster cars so that in 2007 I'm realistically ready, maybe not to run a full Busch Series season, but to run a limited Busch schedule," Duncan said. "It depends on how things go in the first half of [this] season.

"I'm not going to get into a Busch car until I'm ready, and until I can run competitively at the levels below I'm not going to jump up into the Busch Series, because if I go out there and I run around in the back, that's going to immediately blow my credibility and everything I've worked for the last 10 years, to get where I'm at.

"I want to be prepared and I want to be able to run competitively and have a realistic shot at running up front. I know I realistically won't have a shot to win a Busch race my first time out, but I want to be competitive right off the bat.

"I'd like to see myself racing Nextel Cup in the next four to five years, and I don't see that as an unrealistic goal at all."

Fisher said she'd love to do more short-track racing, harkening back to her roots in Midgets, but she said for her, care was even more of a factor as she pursues her own long-range plans that also include Nextel Cup racing.

"I'm only working on one year right now -- it's hard to do five years," Fisher said with a laugh. "I mean, in five years I'd love to be in Nextel Cup but I don't know how it's going to progress, so I'm being very open-minded and trying to be flexible.

"Sure, I've considered [short-track racing], but I have to make sure those are the right opportunities, too, because I'm different and I'm going to get looked at differently.

"I've just got to make sure there are all the right opportunities because right now that's very critical -- I've got to make sure that everything goes right."