Childress to race three cars after losing Bowyer
In the wake of Clint Bowyer's departure to Michael Waltrip Racing next season, Richard Childress says his organization will likely pare down to three cars for the 2012 Sprint Cup season.
"Right now we're looking at three Cup cars with an occasional Cup race," Childress said. "Who knows what may come up between now and then? I've had offers to race people and race drivers and had another full sponsorship with a driver; I just want to make sure it's the right move when we make it. So we're still as of right now, we're three Cup teams."
The lineup will include Paul Menard in the No. 27, Kevin Harvick in the No. 29 and Jeff Burton in the No. 31.
Childress said he would have preferred to keep Bowyer in-house, but couldn't reach an agreement financially. Bowyer initially brought 5-Hour ENERGY to Childress as a potential sponsor, but they could not work out a deal.
"It was just we knew what our financial model was and Clint knew where he needed to be and we just couldn't ever come together to make it work," Childress explained. "We had the car completely sponsored but it just didn't really work out, and I'm very sad that it didn't because I really like Clint. He's going to be a great driver. Never say never; hopefully he will be back some day at RCR."
If and when a fourth RCR is on the track, the likely driver would be Austin Dillon, Childress' grandson, the current Camping World Truck Series points leader. Dillon, 21, made his Cup Series debut at Kansas, finishing 26th.
"I'm sure if we don't have a team we may stick Austin in another car one or two times," Childress said. "We've got a couple of other people that said they want to run. If we see it's the right opportunity for a change, that we can test something or look at a driver or something, we may do that."
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