Childress' sponsor gain leaves Davis team on hunt (cont'd)

"It certainly is a factor," Burton said. "Ward and Cat was a great relationship. They won the Daytona 500 together, won the Southern 500, won some races together. That was a really neat relationship. I'm excited about continuing the Burton relationship with Cat. It's a really good fit for us; our family's been in the construction business forever, and it's a really neat fit. It is a unique situation that a brother drove for the sponsor and now another one is, but I think that's a positive thing."

Not necessarily for the Davis team, that now has to find a new sponsor for its flagship vehicle, a car that hasn't won since Ward Burton last went to Victory Lane at New Hampshire in the summer of 2002.

“

[My brother] Ward and Cat was a great relationship. They won the Daytona 500 together, won the Southern 500, won some races together. That was a really neat relationship. I'm excited about continuing the Burton relationship with Cat. It's a really good fit for us.

”

JEFF BURTON

"I guess as in any business, you hate to see those type of relationships end," Brown said. "But it is a business, and they're doing what they feel like is right for them now, and we have to respect that. We don't really have any regrets about it. We got to experience a lot together in winning races, the ups and downs. We just have to look at it as, we have to take the momentum we've had the last seven or eight weeks and keep that up. We feel like the future of the 22 will kind of take care of itself."

Both RCR and Bill Davis Racing have loose ends remaining. For Childress, the final piece of his picture for 2009 is a driver for that General Mills-sponsored fourth car, which will bear the No. 33. Childress said Friday that he has a "very short list" of two or three drivers in the running, both inside and outside of Sprint Cup, but wouldn't specify who. Ryan Newman, in the final year of his contract with Penske Racing and with an unsure sponsor situation for next season, is viewed as one possibility. RCR Nationwide Series driver Scott Wimmer is seen as a long shot.

"I wanted it done a couple of weeks ago," Childress said. "Being able to put a lot of things together this time of year is pretty hard. Some people can't talk yet, the ones that can can't sign contracts. We've been working on it. Hopefully by Aug. 15 we'll have a decision as to what we're going to do."

Bill Davis Racing has plans in the works, too. Brown said the team hopes to shortly announce a multi-year sponsorship deal for a second car for 2009, a program that would not affect the No. 22 car. A driver unveiling is not expected to be part of the forthcoming sponsor announcement. "You could say that's a work in progress," Brown said.

So is sponsorship for the No. 22 car. Meanwhile, despite the soft economy, RCR scores another coup.

"I think it's important that sponsors want to talk to us, and we're in their consideration," Burton said. "Certainly it's a tough market. There aren't as many sponsors out there as we'd like to have, and [there are] more teams than we'd like to have looking for sponsors. But we feel good about the amount of interest we have in our company, and that goes back to Richard.

"Richard's a very competitive person doing his best to put very competitive teams on the racetrack. More importantly, he's very honest, very straightforward, and I think sponsors recognize that and have an appreciation for that because they know what they're going to get. We do what we say we're going to do, when we're going to do it, and I think that goes a long way."