Childress, Stewart add insight on owners' meeting

LONG POND, Pa. -- Team owner Richard Childress this weekend at Pocono Raceway said last week's mass-meeting of NASCAR owners at Hendrick Motorsports was a concerted discussion on cutting costs and improving the sport -- not the preliminary step to forming an owners' group.

"We don't need a formal organization in our sport," Childress said. "I think it's worked for over 50 years the way it is and I don't see 'em changing it. That tells you how NASCAR's changed.

Love of cars

A blue ribbon panel comprised of Richard Childress Racing drivers Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton and team owner Richard Childress will lead judging of "The Hartford 200” program, which celebrates “the deep connection Americans have with their cars and their own personal stories from the road."

The Hartford received thousands of essays from drivers. Five were named national finalists, including: Sarah Armour (Merriam, Kan.), Laura Burba (Pineville, N.C.), Polly Rowan (Olympia, Wash.), Shannon Santangelo (Peoria, Ariz.) and Donna Sitter (Sharon, Conn.). Fans can vote for their favorite at www.TheHartford200.com.

"Burton's probably the most prolific reader of the three of us," Childress said at Pocono. "But I do like to read. So we’ll be on that pretty solid."

The winner will be chosen through a combination of the consumer vote, the blue ribbon panel and Hartford executives. Voting ends Aug. 13. The winner will be awarded a Chevrolet Equinox and a visit from Bowyer, among other prizes.

"NASCAR knows that we were in a meeting, and that was just a group of guys -- as owners, we want to keep the top-quality teams with top-quality equipment to keep putting on the great shows that we put on for our race fans."

Childress said the meeting, which was held at Hendrick Motorsports' complex in Charlotte, N.C., repeated fellow owner Rick Hendrick's claim that this was just a continuation of the "town hall" meetings NASCAR initiated a year ago.

"It's already been happening," Childress said. "For the last year, NASCAR's been having these team owner meetings and team owner/driver meetings and this is just an extension of what we've already had -- talking with NASCAR officials and [telling NASCAR] we wanted to sit down as a group and see what we could do to make everything stronger for the racing in the future."

"We're all stakeholders in this thing, and we all want to know 'What can we do to make this better? How can we save some money and help the show?'" Hendrick told The Associated Press on Wednesday, the day after representatives from about 10 race teams gathered at Hendrick's complex. "I really like the new attitude in NASCAR. I really like the way we're all just kicking around something, talking it out and coming to agreements on how to move this sport forward."

Childress said NASCAR had no representatives at the meeting, but NASCAR officials planned to be "in the follow-up meetings."

"They wanted us to get together and come up with some ideas that's gonna improve our sport in the future," Childress said. "We're not talking about next week, or the end of this year. We're talking about five years down the road, how to keep the things better and better and how to have quality race teams and a quality product on the race track.

"[Saving money] was just part of it. The whole thing -- our interest is putting on a great show and what we can do to help put on a great show was talked about by a lot of us."

"I think it's a different world with NASCAR today. They've asked us to meet as a group of owners and come back to them with some ideas on how, in five years, we can sustain what we have today but make it even better in the future.

"There were a lot of [ideas that were received favorably by the group]. It was amazing, for that group, how many of them that we'd agree on."

Childress said that in a venue as competitive as NASCAR is, with everyone having a vested interested in gaining their own competitive advantage, it was particularly heartening to see so much agreement.

"It really was a surprise to me," Childress said. "The topics that we had all sent in were like we had all sat and talked about them before and we [agreed]. It was a great meeting; I'll leave it at that."

Jeff Burton, one of Childress' Cup drivers, gave another competitor's view on the temperature of the water around NASCAR.

"There are two different philosophies of how to go about making things better," Burton said. "The ultimate goal for NASCAR is to make this the best racing in the world. That's one thing I have always had a lot of respect for, is that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to move the ball forward to make this the best racing in the world.

"It's a fine line. It's one of the things that -- every system has its flaws. This is, in my mind, a benevolent dictatorship. It needs to be a dictatorship. The participants really don't deserve a vote because we have seen in other sports, when the participants have a vote, how screwed up it gets."

As a driver/owner, Stewart-Haas Racing owner Tony Stewart was impressed with what he saw at the session.

"Well, it was a good meeting," Stewart said. "I'll be honest, I was really overwhelmed when I walked in there. That was probably one of the coolest things I've ever got to do in my NASCAR career, was sit in there with car owners and the different levels and years and knowledge of racing -- that was very flattering just to be in that group.

"I thought there were some really good ideas in there, I thought there were some ideas that will take a long time to sort details out -- but I think that collectively the owners did a really good job at trying to look at all the aspects that we could, in a short amount of time to figure out something that we can go to NASCAR with and try to make things better for everybody involved.

"It wasn't just about saving money for the car owners, it was trying to figure out how we can do things to make it better for the fans, and to make the sport better. Hopefully some of those ideas are something that will be attractive to NASCAR, too."

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston cited NASCAR's recent changes aimed at cost-containment, including a "single engine rule," more restrictive rules for gear ratios and RPM limits, the new car that's designed to be more flexible and usable at a variety of race track, the elimination of testing and tire leasing.

"NASCAR is aware and supportive of the meeting among team owners to discuss options for additional cost containment ideas," Poston said. "Cost containment is a key issue in our sport. While NASCAR has made significant progress in this area, we are always open to additional ideas.

"Hopefully, [the owners] will find common ground on some ideas to present to NASCAR for consideration."