RCR teams hope to end Hendrick's COT dominance

In five Car of Tomorrow races so far this season, one thing has become abundantly clear -- Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are clearly the top two teams when it comes to the COT.

But don't count out a third Chevrolet team just yet.

By the Numbers

Jeff Burton won last year's fall race at Dover, but overall, performances at the track haven't been strong for Chevrolet. There isn't one Chevy driver who has an average finish of 10th or better at the Monster Mile.

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Hendrick and Gibbs may steal all the headlines, and rightfully so, but Richard Childress Racing is quietly putting together a dominant season. All three of Childress' drivers -- Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer -- are in the top 10 in points and for now are comfortably in Chase contention.

Dover marks the sixth COT race of the season, and when the green flag flies in the Autism Speaks 400 presented by Visa on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX), the group at RCR hopes to show the rest of the sport that the team is dialed in on this COT.

"I think we've got the consistency thing figured out, I just want to be a little bit better," second-year star Bowyer said, and he's right about RCR's consistency.

All three drivers have finished in the top 10 in three of the five COT races. In fact, the average finish of the Childress bunch in COT races this season is 14.1. Throw out Harvick's 41st at Martinsville due to the safety foam catching fire and Burton's 43rd at Richmond due to an engine failure and the team has an average finish of 9.8.

"We've gotten some top-10s, now we need to start cracking the top five," Bowyer said. "We need to be at a point where we can race for a win.

"That's what we're out here to do, win races. You can't do it running ninth and 10th. We've got to get a little bit better and I think we can do that."

Bowyer has been the most consistent of the RCR bunch with four finishes in the top 11 and an average finish in COT races of 11.8. Add to that an eighth-place finish in last year's fall race at Dover and Bowyer thinks the time is now for the newly turned 28-year-old to grab his first Cup victory.

"The first time I went to Dover, we were terrible and I felt like I couldn't get out of my own way and then when we went back, we had the fastest car and almost won the race," Bowyer said. "Last year, I finally got a Busch win there. It's one of those tracks where I've always run pretty well. Fortunately, it seems like Dover is one racetrack that feels like I figured out pretty early in my career so it's a track I always look forward to."

Bowyer's teammate Burton definitely has the Monster Mile figured out. A fourth in the spring race followed up by his first Cup win since 2001 in the fall, his worst finish at Dover in the last two years is 12th.

In COT races, Burton is equally good. He was runner-up to Kyle Busch at Bristol, posted a sixth at Martinsville, a 13th at Phoenix and a 10th at Darlington. But a recent test at Dover was cancelled due to rain extending the weekend at Darlington and Burton has his concerns about the COT and a fast track like Dover.

"Certainly the test would have been beneficial," Burton said. "At the same token, we were able to go to Darlington and I thought, for the most part, all the teams did a really nice job of responding to the challenges that Darlington threw at us without at test.

"I think having a test at Bristol and a race at Darlington -- those things are very beneficial to what we're going to be doing at Dover. So, obviously we're all a little bit nervous about it but for the most part, I think we'll be OK."

Harvick, who has an average finish of 15.8 in COT races on the season, agrees with Burton and thinks handling will once again be a problem.

"I think the race is going to be pretty entertaining. It's going to be hard to find the right setup for the race and you will see a lot of handling issues," Harvick said. "However, to win at Dover, I think you have to be the team that has the least amount of handling issues. I don't think you will find a team that will hit on a perfect setup."

After winning the Daytona 500, it's been a bumpy season for Harvick. But COT races have been some of his strongest with three of his five top-fives coming in the new car -- a fourth at Bristol, a 10th at Phoenix and seventh at Richmond.

Dover has never been one of Harvick's strongest tracks, with no wins and an average finish of 17.6. He says the team that will be successful is the one who has its car set up just right.

"I think there will be a lot of teams that will qualify well and won't race well," Harvick said. "Getting the balance on the car right [is tricky]. Just running your car free enough where you can get back on the throttle in the middle of the corner and get off the corner without pushing the front tires. It's a pretty sensitive racetrack and it is tough to get the balance right."

Bowyer says Dover is more physically demanding than people think, but that sets up well for him because he thrives on this type of track.

"It's a long race but 400 miles at any track is a long time," Bowyer said. "You get off in the corner with a lot of speed and you've got to yank on the wheel and make things happen pretty quickly because the corners are tight and you're going pretty fast.

"It's just one of those tracks that I enjoy. I like that type of racetrack and you've just got to get comfortable and get suited in and good to go. I like Dover. It's one of my better tracks so I'm excited."

For last year's winner, variety is important at Dover -- you have to be able to run different lines, especially with the speeds and banking at the 1-mile concrete oval.

"Dover is an exceptionally fast racetrack," Burton said. "You're in the throttle a lot of the time, there's a lot of banking and you really have to work hard to get your car to turn well. You don't want to lock in so you can only run on the bottom. You want to be able to run different grooves. If you can do those things, you can run really well there."

COT races have been one of RCR's strong points this season. With the past success of Bowyer and Burton at Dover and the hunger of Harvick, this week could see a new team visit Victory Lane in a COT.

Dover is tough, all three agree, but does it deserve the label Monster Mile?

"Definitely. Darlington's nickname and Dover's nickname are the two most fitting of all the racetracks," Burton said. "Dover is just a physically demanding racetrack. When you hit, you hit hard. It's one of the most difficult racetracks we run on. The corners are really wide, but the straightaways aren't. It's just a really tough racetrack."