Kevin Harvick shows off the new paint job he'll sport next season. Credit: Autostock

Childress sees fourth Cup team in his future

GM Goodwrench scaling back sponsorship of No. 29 team

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- When Richard Childress peers into the future, he sees a four-team Nextel Cup Series operation. Not next year, but quite possibly in 2008.

"Definitely we're looking at our options for a fourth Cup team," Childress said Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. "I think in the future you'll see most of the top teams have to go to four teams.

"It's not one of those things that's in our plans for 2007, but who knows about 2008?"

	Richard Childress
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Performance level is key. If RCR continues to excel as it has in 2006, with a pair of teams running for the Nextel Cup Series championship and the Busch Series title long sewed up, Childress will look at adding a fourth team.

"If we have our teams running at the level I want to, and I wouldn't have even considered it two years ago, but if we can keep the momentum we have today, moving forward, then we'd consider a fourth team in the future," he said.

Childress also announced Saturday that GM Goodwrench, primary sponsor of his vaunted Nos. 3 and 29 Chevrolets for more than 20 years, will reduce its primary sponsorship of Kevin Harvick's Nextel Cup team to just a handful of races in 2007.

Goodwrench will, however, serve as a full-time associate sponsor. The company began its tenure at RCR in 1986 as an associate sponsor on Dale Earnhardt's legendary No. 3 Chevrolet before jumping to the primary role in 1988.

"Change is part of this sport, and with things like they are today in the automotive world they had to look at a lot of different options, and this is an option that they can still be involved in the sport and move forward with RCR," Childress said.

The new reduced role makes way for Shell Oil to assume primary sponsorship of the No. 29 Chevy in the majority of the races with its Pennzoil brand.

Goodwrench and Reese's will also serve as primary sponsors on the No. 29 in select races, which Childress said haven't yet been determined.