RCR undergoes change in hopes of catching HMS (cont'd)

To attempt keeping up, Childress formed an engine-shop alliance midway through last season with Dale Earnhardt Inc., and says he expects dividends to be paid out on that investment in Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies beginning this season.

"We know some areas we've got to get better in. You've got to have better pit stops; you've got to be more solid, more consistent in all areas," Childress said. "The engine program needs to get better. I think this engine program we're working on -- sure, it's a new company and we've got a lot of things we need to accomplish down there yet -- but once it gets running like a well-oiled machine, we're going to be as good as any engine company."

Childress also has upgraded his shop -- again -- in Welcome, N.C., and has beefed up RCR's infrastructure by hiring some new personnel and promoting Will Lind, who ran the Nationwide Series program with great success, to oversee the Cup programs as well. Among the new personnel hired: Matt Clark, who was the pit-crew coach for the Johnson and Gordon teams at Hendrick. Clark will now coordinate the pit crews for all three RCR Cup teams.

Clark should be aided in his efforts by the new 93,000-square foot building on the expanding RCR campus. The new building includes a state-of-the-art gym where teams can stage indoor pit-stop practices, as well as an exercise and weight room that might rival some National Football League teams and rooms for physical therapy and video-tape study. Also included is an 18,000-square foot auditorium for mixed use and entertaining visitors -- such as prospective sponsors. It's bigger by itself than the entire RCR shop was back when Earnhardt was helping Childress forge his Cup dynasty.

"It's an incredible investment that Richard has made," said Burton, who finished seventh in the final Cup point standings last year. "And the thing is, it seems like it's never enough. It seems like you always have to do more. It never stops.

"But I believe strongly that we've made the investment in the resources going into this year that will make it all worthwhile. The confidence in our shop is high, as it is in every shop this time of year. But I believe it's going to pay off this year."

Thanks in large part to the direction of Lind, according to Childress and his drivers, it paid off last season in the Busch Series, now renamed the Nationwide Series. Even though Carl Edwards won the driver points title, RCR drivers combined to win a Hendrick-like 13 races and the No. 29 car driven mostly by Burton won the car owner points championship. (Harvick won six times, Burton five and Bowyer twice).

This year, Harvick will drive his own car in the Nationwide Series. And Childress said that while success in NASCAR's second premier series is nice, he's all about getting it done at the Sprint Cup level. That's one reason he rewarded Lind with a promotion to the Cup side and gave him greater responsibilities, including many things on the competition side that Childress used to take care of himself that he feels he no longer has the time to do as well as he'd like.

"I'm driven by our fans. People say, 'Why do you keep doing it?' I want to win. I want to be part of this team that goes out here and wins," Childress said. "We want to win a championship. Our goal is to get back on that stage with one of these drivers in New York.

"We've pushed hard for that. We're winning in the [Nationwide Series]; we've won the championship there. But Cup is what drives us. And you look at all these employees and their families. It's part of your responsibility to make sure all these people have a job. That's part of it, too. And that's why I still do it.

He almost walked away from racing after Earnhardt's death during the 2001 Daytona 500, which took a toll on the RCR operation in ways that even now are hard to fathom. But eventually he was drawn back to the sport he has loved since driving himself beginning in 1969.

"In 2001, I wanted to quit racing. I wanted to get out," Childress said. "And in 2002, our hearts weren't in it. I think in 2004, everyone started pulling harder together and looking at what we needed to do. I spent Christmas in the engine shop in 2004, and then spent time in every area.

"I knew then that if we were ever going to come back and be a factor in NASCAR, we were going to have to make a lot of changes. So at that point, we started making changes. This sport is about people. About everybody has the money to race with and the stuff they need to do it -- but at the end of the day, it's about the people."

Burton said that RCR has the right people, starting right at the top of the organization.

"We've got the best car owner in the business. We've got some of the best drivers and crew chiefs in the business," Burton said. "We don't have excuses. It's time to get it done."

Harvick added: "We haven't closed the gap all the way, but we've definitely closed it some. I think Jeff put it well. I think we've made a lot of gains, and whether everybody else made the same gains, I don't know. But I think the confidence level definitely is high. We feel good about everything we've done."

Now it is almost time to find out what it all means.

"It's clear that Hendrick has been the team to beat. That's clear," Burton said. "But we're not coming this year to take an ass-whuppin'. I'm not saying we're going to beat 'em, but at the same time we're not here to run second. We're not here to talk about how good Hendrick is. That's not why we exist. We exist so that people can talk about us."