Richard Childress Racing will move into the future as a three-car team for 2010. Sponsorship was not available to run Casey Mears’ #07 car this season but #31-Jeff Burton, #29-Kevin Harvick and #33-Clint Bowyer will remain. “Right now we’re going to run three Cup teams out of our shop,” said [team owner Richard] Childress, “and possibly a rookie somewhere along the line but, right now, it’s three teams. Casey, I’m hoping to try to find him something (at another team). He hasn’t landed anything yet. He’s a great guy and did a great job for us at the end of the year and I just wish there was something we could do with him but right now, I don’t want to do anything with a fourth team that’s going to take away from our other three teams.”(Peoria Journal Star)(1-8-2010)
UPDATE: A team spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the organization’s #07 Chevy, driven last season by Casey Mears, would not make the trip to Daytona for the Sprint Cup Series’ season opener on Feb. 14. As recently as last month, the team had indicated that the vehicle would appear at Daytona, where it has a guaranteed starting spot by virtue of Mears’ 21st-place finish in owners’ points last year. Wednesday, though, the team said that was no longer the case, and that RCR would field only the cars of #31-Jeff Burton, #29-Kevin Harvick, and #33-Clint Bowyer. Jack Daniel’s, the primary sponsor of the #07 last season, left NASCAR after 2009 and a full-time replacement has yet to be found. Mears also has yet to announce any definitive plans for the 2010 campaign. As for whether the No. 07 would hit the race track at some point beyond Daytona, the spokesman said there were currently no plans for the vehicle at this time.(NASCAR.com)(1-14-2010)
