Weekend That Was: RCR

Asked about his ridiculously hectic weekend, a weary Richard Childress looked up from the microphone placed in front of him in the Lowe's Motor Speedway media center and grinned ever so slightly.

"First of all, I haven't slept a whole lot. I can tell you that," he said.

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No kidding. No one in NASCAR endured a more demanding weekend than Childress.

In fact, you might have to think real long and real hard to come up with a candidate in the history of auto racing who has ever had a more exhausting yet exhilarating weekend than the one just logged by Childress.

On Friday, the announcement came that his company, Richard Childress Racing, would be teaming up with Dale Earnhardt Inc. to combine engine building departments -- effective immediately. Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies hopes to be supplying all six of their Nextel Cup teams with engines by the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway in early July.

Later on Friday, word arrived that one of the key sponsors of one of Childress' three race teams, AT&T, had earned an important victory in federal court in its battle with NASCAR to put its logo on the No. 31 car driven by Jeff Burton. The next day Sprint Nextel, sponsor of the Nextel Cup Series, joined the fray by seeking an emergency appeal that would have prevented Burton's car from carrying the AT&T logo in Saturday night's Nextel All-Star Challenge.

As with an appeal earlier in the day from NASCAR, that also was denied by a federal judge in Atlanta -- and Burton's crew members hurriedly changed into new uniforms and prepared Burton's car so that all prominently displayed AT&T logos that no doubt left NASCAR and Sprint Nextel powers-that-be fuming and mumbling about more appeals.

But enough about all that. Truth is, the eyes of most race fans rapidly begin to glaze over at the first mention of all these mergers and lawsuits (especially the lawsuits) -- and they're starting to get that way when it comes to the endless discussions about where Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive next year.

What really matters is the racing itself, so it seemed fitting that Childress' busy weekend was capped by another of his drivers, Kevin Harvick in the No. 29 Chevrolet, winning the All-Star Challenge and the $1 million prize that came with it. Harvick held off arguably the hottest driver in the Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson, in fairly dramatic fashion to do so (watch video). (Continued)