#29 Stays, New Colors, #3 Retired? UPDATE 2: Richard Childress Racing will unveil the 2002 paint scheme for the #29 Chevrolets driven by rookie Kevin Harvick, but there will be no change in the team’s number. The news conference is scheduled for 10:00am/et on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday’s inaugural Protection One 400. Sources said the car’s general design will remain the same, but there will be some color changes. Also, owner Richard Childress is expected to reveal his intentions to seek the retirement of the #3 – the number used by that team when Dale Earnhardt was its driver. Earnhardt, who won six of his seven Winston Cup championships with Childress, was killed in a last-lap wreck at the season opening Daytona 500. Harvick has driven for Earnhardt’s former team with the #29 and a predominantly white color scheme on the car since the February race at Rockingham(That’s Racin’). JAYSKI NOTE: hearing the car will feature a red scheme(9-29-2001) UPDATE: In a pre-race press conference from the Fan Walk inside Kansas Speedway, Richard Childress announced this morning the #29 of Kevin Harvick will carry some familiar colors for 2002. The Monte Carlo unveiled combined the familiar black with a new gray scheme giving the car a touch of the old, with a dash of the new. The announcement was greeted by applause from the fans in attendance. Richard Childress Racing will field the #s 29, 30, and 31 Winston Cup cars for Kevin Harvick, Jeff Green, and supposedly Robby Gordon.(Frontstretch). So much for the red rumor(9-30-2001) UPDATE 2: Richard Childress, owner of the No. 29 Chevrolets driven by Kevin Harvick, said Sunday he is trying to persuade NASCAR to retire the No. 3 made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt. “The numbers belong to NASCAR and it’s not their policy to retire numbers,” Childress said. “But we’re talking to them heavily about retiring the number 3. If not, we have some plans for the No. 3 that we have registered and stylized that Dale Earnhardt made so famous.” Childress said he expects NASCAR’s decision by the end of the season.(That’s Racin’). See images of the car at my Paint Schemes Gallery for more images (and the new 2002 Cup page there)(10-1-2001)
