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Front Page-»Richard Childress leads Harvick and crew to win at Bristol
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CHILDRESS IN CHARGE
The last time Richard Childress visited victory lane at Bristol, the year was 1999 and the legendary Dale Earnhardt was celebrating a controversial win over Terry Labonte. Childress, still stewing over NASCAR's Las Vegas penalty that benched crew chief Todd Berrier for four weeks, motivated his team Sunday and led driver Kevin Harvick to his first victory in 56 races since the 2003 Brickyard 400.
Richard Childress Racing also ended a Nextel Cup winless skid that dated to August 2003 at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Through it all, Childress had a front-row seat, joining interim crew chief Scott Miller on the pit box. "I just talked to Scott some, and I wanted to be there," Childress said after his first race atop a pit box since the 2001 season. "We talked back and forth and you know, it felt good." "I wanted to show everybody that I supported them," added Childress. "It brought back a lot of old memories." The day certainly didn’t start off on a positive note. Early Sunday, crewmembers discovered the power steering pump in Harvick's car was leaking. New rules this season penalize teams that do certain work on their cars on race morning. Harvick's team repaired the pump, but forfeited his 13th-place starting spot and was forced to start at the back of the field. "It was really our only option," said Harvick. "You don't want to come to Bristol with a car built for power steering and try to run it without power steering." The setback didn’t matter though, with Childress back on the pit box calmly coaching Harvick, the driver stayed calm during an intense, wreck-filled race. "It's big ... It's pretty awesome. We fought a lot of adversity," said Harvick after his first Bristol triumph. "In light of everything that has happened, it was a pretty sweet day." There were 11 major crashes, including one in the opening laps and four in the first 35 miles. And there were three more yellows to clean up debris. After a blown tire and then a 14-car crash on lap 332 of the 500-lapper took Rusty Wallace out of contention, the two best cars left on the track were Harvick's and Greg Biffle's. While Biffle was leading, he opted not to pit for fresh tires. His No. 16 Ford was the only lead-lap car not to do so and paid the price. Biffle, who led 91 of 500 laps, said over the radio to crew chief Doug Richert: "They're going to get us. I just don't know if we can stay in the top five." After another caution for debris, Harvick passed Biffle for the lead in Turn 2 on Lap 434. He wouldn't be challenged again. "I got on the radio and called him a sitting duck," Harvick said of Biffle. "I knew when he stayed on the racetrack that he wasn't going to be one of the cars that we had to worry about because tires meant so much for the first 15-20 laps." Harvick took the lead from Biffle three laps after the restart and led the rest of the way, under chilly blue skies in front of a sellout crowd of 170,000. He finished nearly five seconds ahead of Elliott Sadler, "I'll have to give it to Kevin's bunch," Sadler said. "They had a great race car, and it seemed every time he got in trouble he would come back through the pack. "But I'm so proud of my guys. Anytime you come to Bristol and sit on the pole and maybe the lowest we ran all day was seventh or eighth and there's not a scratch on the car and we finished second.... "I was just a little free at the end to run with Kevin, but I'm not going to complain at all. Anytime you get out of Bristol with a top-five, you've had a great, great day." "After 40 or 50 laps of a run, the tires would really fall off, so we were going to pit for tires regardless of who came with us," Harvick said. "I was excited when Greg didn't pit. I told everybody he was a sitting duck. But it's hard being in that position. "But when he stayed out on the track, I knew he wouldn't be a car we had to deal with." Biffle was not happy: "I guess we've got to learn some time or another. "We've got to be able to win races like that. And we got a flat right at the end of the race. "It was a terrible finish. But we had a dominating car, the fastest car on the track. I feel bad. "We made the decision to stay out. It was stupid. There were 89 laps to go. We should have pitted. "It's just that track position here is so tough. It's really tough to make that decision, but we made the wrong one, and we had a chance to fix it and we didn't. "And then we got a flat right-front at the end. We're very lucky that the race ended when it did, or we would have been worse." Tire problems struck many drivers. Matt Kenseth was running third with 15 laps to go when he cut a tire. Michael Waltrip cut a tire with 75 laps to go and nudged Jimmie Johnson into the wall while trying to hang on. That took Johnson out of contention; he finished sixth. Goodyear officials said "heat-related blisters on inside shoulder of right-front tire" on several cars. Tires are softer this season, to help compensate for NASCAR's shorter rear-spoilers rules. Wallace, who led 157 laps, more than anyone, was one of the several having a tire problem: "I had them covered all day long until the tire went. It just blew out. "It was a great car, it was flying, it was perfect. Then we lost that right-front tire and lost a couple of laps. "Then we had some mix-up on pit road. Brian Vickers was sideways out there, and I was avoiding him. "I thought I had it won, I really did. We had a fast car. But stupid stuff happens." In all, seven of the drivers in the top 10 at the start of the race had trouble. Johnson remains atop the Nextel Cup standings and Harvick jumped up to sixth. After it was all over, Harvick said winning on the 0.533-mile oval was something to treasure. "There's a lot that goes into winning everywhere, but there's just something I've always enjoyed about Bristol that fits my style," he said. "It's really pretty cool to win here." "We've all been beaten down pretty far in our careers, and you just have to learn how to dig yourself out of a hole. This is a huge statement made by our race team today. And we don't have to say much else. "There is a whole different atmosphere at Richard's now. Maybe this is the end of the bad luck. "I just wish Todd could have been here today, because he's the main reason this stuff happens." "It feels great to be back in Victory Lane anywhere, but especially Bristol," Childress said. "We told our guys this is all a negative - we've got to start at the rear, and we don't have our crew chief here. But we've got to turn this into a positive. And we let our actions do the speaking. "I appreciate the press being on our backs, because it gives us drive. We know we're not where we want to be yet, but this shows we're getting there. "A lot of the credit goes to Todd. He and Scott Miller (the chief engineer) worked hard on this stuff over the winter. We knew we had a good car in practice, we could hear it in Kevin's voice. "Dale (Earnhardt) and I went long stretches without winning. But it just makes you stronger." Childress will remain on the Goodwrench pit box for at least the next two weeks as Berrier serves out the remainder of his NASCAR enforced suspension. "If I thought we would win, I would be out there every week," Childress said. "It's been a long wait," Harvick said of his 55-race winless streak, "but we're back."
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