NASCAR WCUP: Richard Childress Racing Transcript, Rockingham

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Transcript of the Richard Childress Racing press conference:

“Thank you all for coming. My name is David Hart. I’m the Director of Communications for Richard Childress Racing. I’d like to introduce Richard Childress,President and CEO of Richard Childress Racing.”

Richard Childress: “First off, I’d like to thank all the pressfor giving us our space during this time. It hasn’t been easy for any of us and it hasn’t been easy for a lot ofthe press because I know how a lot of you all felt about Dale as well.

“Dale Earnhardt and I talkedabout what would happen if I was in Africa and got run over by an elephant, orfell off of a mountain, or if something happened to him in whatever manner,what we would want and what we would want to do. And it is to go on. Both of us are racers, and Dale Earnhardtwas a racer. And we made a pledge to eachother that we would go on. We renewedit again after New Hampshire. That’swhat we’re going to do, and we’re going to do what Dale would want us to do andthat’s race this week. I mean it’s tough. The toughest thing we’ll do when that green flag falls is to start thatrace without Dale Earnhardt.

“We’ve had a lot of peoplesupport us. GM Goodwrench, a lot of our sponsors that was on the No. 3 blackcar, and we’re going to run Kevin Harvick in a Goodwrench No. 29 whitecar. Kevin’s a strong individual. He’s a very talented race driver and that’sthe reason we brought him on two or three years ago to be an addition to RCR.This happened a lot sooner than any of us ever expected, and it isn’t the wayKevin wanted to get into a Winston Cup car.

“We had made an announcementin Daytona to run an American Online car No. 30 with Kevin next year, sevenraces this year and a full season next year. So what we’re going to do it that he is going to start driving the GMGoodwrench car. We will be looking fora driver for seven races this year and possibly the full race schedule for theNo. 30 team next year.

“Mike Skinner has been achampion at heart with Dale Earnhardt and we brought him up to answer anyquestions, and Kevin Hamlin is the crew chief, and we’ve got him up heretoo. This isn’t easy for any of us andwe’re just going to try to go this week, do our best, and I’ve got all theconfidence in the world, and Dale had a lot of confidence in Kevin Harvick’s drivingability.”

Question to Kevin Harvick: Last week at Daytona, you talked about howimportant it was to draw off the experience and valuable resources of Mike(Skinner) and Dale (Earnhardt) this year before running a full season. Now, you don’t have that – you can draw offMike – but how will that affect your development in Winston Cup?

Kevin Harvick: “Well,obviously it’s not going to help it any. It’s going to affect it in a big way. But this is a strong organization. There are a whole bunch of racecars involved in this organization. Obviously,this is going to draw us a whole lot closer together than we were. Kevin (Hamlin) and I and Mike Skinner andRichard (Childress) – we’re just going to do our best. And I’d like to say onething. Dale Earnhardt was probably thebest racecar driver there ever is going to be in NASCAR and nobody will everreplace him. I think we all know that.I would hope that you guys (the media) don’t expect me to replace him, becausenobody ever will.

Question to Mike Skinner: Whatis it like for you personally and to your career to lose Dale Earnhardt?

Mike Skinner: “Like Richard (Childress) said, it’sdevastating. Dale and I had a very,very mutual respect for one another. Weweren’t best friends; we didn’t go fishing together every weekend. But I always thought, and still do, that hewas the very best to date, the year 2001, that ever sat behind the wheel of aracecar. Whether you’re a fan or not, Idon’t think you can deny that. He wasthe kind of guy that would come up to you one day and not talk to you. The next day’s he’s your best friend. Matter of fact, he come and found me atDaytona and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a good racecar today. Keep your head on. If you do a good job, you can with this race.’ You’ve all heard him talk before you can goword-for-word and be pretty close. We’ve got some other things going that we’vegot to put on the back burner. I foundout this week that Dale was real strong behind me. Dale was the kind of guythat would never tell me that he thought I was a great racecar driver, but hetold everybody else. He told Richard alot. And I’ve got a hell of a respectfor him.

“But we’ve got to go on. I’ve also got a lot of respect for KevinHarvick. I’ve raced against him in the (NASCAR Craftsman) Truck Series; I’ve racedagainst him in the Busch Series. I’vehad a hard time out-running him when he had half the vehicle I did. Like Kevin said, no one will ever attempt tofill the shoes of Dale Earnhardt. Butwe’ve got to go on. The quicker we cango on, the quicker we can put all this to bed. Our car owner can start focusingon winning races again and doing well in this sport. I think Kevin Harvick’sgoing to do a heck of a job. I workedwith Kevin Hamlin my rookie year and we get alonggreat. We’re still good friends. I think we can draw off each other, and goon, and do real well. It’s going totake this team a couple weeks to get back up on its feet. Don’t be surprised ifyou see the No. 29 can and the No. 31 car do real well this week.”

Question to Richard Childress: “What are your plans for the No. 2 ACDelcocar that Kevin Harvick is now running in the Busch Series?

Richard Childress: “I know Kevin is a tough guy. He’s been working out all winter. Andmentally, he’s strong. We’re going totry to run him every race with the No. 2 ACDelco and the No. 29 GM Goodwrenchcars. It’s going to be tough. We’re going to be doing a lot of flyingacross the country. But we owe it tothe guys who worked on the car this winter and we owe it to ACDelco andGoodwrench to try to give them the best.”

Question to RichardChildress: Do you have any thoughtsabout whether or not you’re going to retire the No. 3?

Richard Childress: “That was a question that came up a wholelot. And I understand there arepetitions out there to retire it. Talking with NASCAR, all I can do is tell you about my conversationswith them. We’re going to put the No. 3in a moratorium for one year and not run the No. 3 on anything. We will never run a No. 3, black, Goodwrenchcar again. We may run a No. 3 car againsome day. We’ve got 28 years that RCRhas vested in it. Junior Johnson madethe No. 3 famous back in his era. This is a totally different situation. Right now, all I can say about the No. 3 isthat NACAR says that they do not retire numbers, and that they would like tosee us keep the number. We plan onkeeping the No. 3. They’re going towork with us to put it in a moratorium. You’re supposed to run it five times,but they’re going to waive that. We’llgo forward and see how this feels and see what happens from this point.”

Question to Kevin Harvick: What kind of pressure are you feeling now?

Kevin Harvick: “Richard asked me to do this on Monday. He’s done a lot for me; he’s done a lot forKevin Hamlin and Mike Skinner. And Ithink anybody in the business will tell you he is the best car owner you canhave in this business. There’s 190people at RCR behind me. And that was what I wanted. Nobody said life was easy. But when he asked me to do it, Dale joked about buying me out of mycontract to run a Winston Cup car, and he put the pressure on us inPhoenix. And I think that this is whatDale Earnhardt would want to happen, and I could tell you about theconversations the three of us have had. It’ll be tough, but we’re a pretty toughteam. We’re going to do the best wecan. Hopefully there’ll b a time whenwe can get out of the car and say that one was for Dale when we win our firstrace.”

Question to RichardChildress: What is the significanceof the No. 29? Would you consider maybethe No. 37 – a three and seven championships?

Richard Childress: “None of us were thinking clear, and none ofus gave that a thought. That would havebeen a wonderful idea. I wish you would have came to me and we would have madeit. We just picked the very first number that NASCAR said was out there. There’s no significant number. That would have been a great idea if wewould have been thinking. But it’s times like this I’ve leaned on some friendsto try to help us in these situations and they say be careful – especially ofbusiness decisions you make at this point. We just weren’t thinking clear. We wanted to get a racecar and get out therelike Dale Earnhardt wanted us to do and race. If I had it to do over, I mayhave used 37.”

Question to Kevin Harvick: How are you doing now emotionally, and whatis it like to be back at the track this weekend?

Kevin Harvick: “Well, obviously I didn’t know Dale as longas Richard did. It’s a devastating blowto all of us. I had just gotten to know Dale and have conversations withhim. I grew up watching him. He was a hero to me. And a friend. He’d want me to drive the hell out of his racecar if he was herethis weekend and had broken his leg or something, so that’s what we’re going todo.”

Question to Kevin Harvick: What are your thoughts about the amount ofseat time you’ve had in a Winston Cup car and also about this tough track atRockingham?

Kevin Harvick: “Rockingham’s a tough track. I missed the race here in the Busch car herelast spring and then wound up running good at the end of the year (Fall). I’llrely on this guy right here (Mike Skinner) and that guy (Kevin Hamlin) andRichard to help me as much as they can. We’re just going to take it one step at a time, and do all we can do. I drovea Winston West car for two years and they’re the same racecar. I’ve driventrucks and they’ve got a lot of horsepower too. We were in Atlanta Tuesday and Wednesday testing the No. 30 car.And we tested Earnhardt’s car last year at Homestead and Kentucky four or fivetimes.”

Question for Kevin Hamlin: As crew chief, do you feel aresponsibility to offer some sort of stewardship to the team?

Kevin Hamlin: “It kind of is my job to keep the teampulled together and keep everyone’s heads on straight, emotionally. The good thing about that is there’s a wholebunch of people at RCR that are helping me do that. We’re all helping oneanother through this situation. I thinkeverybody out there has seen that through the outpouring (of feelings)throughout the country, the world. Andthere’s a lot of people that have called, sent flowers, sent letters. We’re racing with one thing in mind.”

Question for RichardChildress: If it was up to you, andNASCAR had nothing to say about it, what would you really like to do with theNo. 3 number?

Richard Childress: “That’s a tough one. Again, Dale and I knew what we were going todo if we retired. Neither one of usever knew anything like this would ever happen. We were going to carry on withthe No. 3 car. And he was going to helpme pick who we wanted to put in that car. He didn’t want to put just anybody in that car. This is a differentsituation. I really don’t know what Iwould do.”

Question for RichardChildress: Dale was so much of whatNASCAR is to so many people, where does NASCAR go without him?

Richard Childress: “You know, I’ve asked where RichardChildress goes without him. I don’t know.”

Question for Kevin Harvick: Are you going to wear theHANS device this weekend?

Kevin Harvick: “I’m not going to wear the HANS device. I have a device that we’ve made in theseatbelt, strapped around your chest, into your crotch belt, and hooked up inthe same spot at the HANS device. Icould not make the HANS device work with movement in the car; it shoved me downinto the seat. And we believe we have a device that’s almost as effective asthe HANS device, and I will wear that this weekend.”

Text Provided By Nancy Wager

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