Jeff Burton's Take: On the state of Richard Childress Racing

  

  
Crew chief Todd Berrier (L) and Kevin Harvick: Richard Childress is splitting them up (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   TALLADEGA, Ala.
   So how will Richard Childress' shakeup – moving driver Kevin Harvick to Gil Martin's team, and moving driver Casey Mears to Todd Berrier's team – affect Childress' other two teams, the Jeff Burton-Scott Miller and Clint Bowyer-Shane Wilson operations?
   For better or worse?
   Shakeups generally in NASCAR don't work….because they're the fallout from bigger problems.
   So how well Childress handles the behind-the-scenes issues back at the shop may really be key to success or failure.
   Burton is doing the best of the four, and Bowyer is doing much better than probably should be expected for working with a brand new team.
  
  

  
Jeff Burton (L) and teammate Clint Bowyer are leading Richard Childress' operation (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

  
How does Burton analyze the general situation?
   "It has been my experience -- and I believe it is the same thing today – that we (as an organization) don't have one thing that we are really doing wrong," Burton says.
   "We have really smart crew chiefs. I believe that. I am not saying that because I am sitting in front of you. I believe that we have really smart crew chiefs.
    "I believe we have very smart people in our engineering department. We have very capable and smart people in every department that we have.
   "But we are not getting the most out of those departments, for one or many reasons.
    "It is not from a lack of effort.
    "It is not from a lack of knowledge or lack of desire or a lack of funding.
     "It is a little bit in all areas.
    "And when you get a little behind, it is hard to catch up.
    "I have been saying this for three years: We are a really, really good race team…but we aren't a great race team.
    "In an effort to propel ourselves to greatness, we have been trying a lot of things. We have been experimenting with a lot of things. We have been willing to come to the race track, and if something didn't work, at least we were trying to be better -- and we haven't found the magic button.
    "Why? If we knew why, we would have fixed it. 
    "It is not a lack of effort. It is not a lack of funding. It is not a lack of talent. It is not a lack of skill, desire.
    "We just aren't pushing the right buttons. You see it with every organization from time to time, some less than others.
    "But specifically what is wrong? I can honestly look at you and tell you I don't believe that we have one glaring thing that is fundamentally incorrect.
    "But we need to get better in every single area that touches our race cars."
  
  

  Jeff Burton: leader of the Childress gang (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)