#29-Kevin Harvick and #33-Clint Bowyer met with the media at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, and it was mentioned by both that Richard Childress Racing, has swapped crews beteern the #29 and #33 teams, with the full pit crew [not crew chiefs] being swapped,, the transcripts, in part:
Q) HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES YOU’VE HAD ON PIT ROAD? IF THEY DON’T GET ADDRESSED, ARE YOU GOING TO BE ABLE TO CONTEND OVER THE NEXT FIVE RACES?
Harvick: “Those issues have been addressed and I believe everything will be fine this week. Richard (Childress) made some huge changes this week.”
Q) YOU ARE RUNNING A BLACK PAINT SCHEME SOME NEXT YEAR, IS THAT A TRIBUTE OR SIGNIFICANCE TO DALE EARNHARDT?
Harvick: “Nope.”
Q) KEVIN WAS IN HERE EARLIER TALKING ABOUT PIT CREW CHANGES AND I UNDERSTAND THAT ALSO INVOLVES YOUR TEAM’ÂCOULD YOU ADDRESS THAT? WHATS GOING ON?
Bowyer: ‘There is no question that my team is arguably the best team at RCR’Âtheyve been together the longest. With us being out of the championship deal; Kevin is the last shot at RCR at basically bringing a championship home. We owe it to everybody involved’Âall the employees who try to bring that championship back home. Certainly Im going to miss them, but weve got a brand new racecar built for here, its an exact replica’Âas close as we could get it’Âto the New Hampshire car so it should be fast again. I think we can win with his pit crew as well. There is certainly no slouch with what he had, and if he needed my crew to be better I was going to give it to him. I owe it to him as a teammate.’Â
Q) IS THIS A PERMANENT SWITCH?
Bowyer: ‘Well see. Obviously if he is out of the championship contention then Ill get them back, but as long as hes in that thing and he can win a championship for RCR, why not?’Â
Q) HOW HARD IS IT AS A DRIVER WHEN YOU SWITCH PIT CREWS’ÂIS IT MORE OF AN ADJUSTMENT FOR THOSE GUYS THAN IT IS FOR YOU IN THE CAR?
Bowyer: ‘Well, the ones that it is hard for is the guys that have been with him all year long and with five races to go you turn your back on them’Âthats who it is hard for. Its difficult for those guys, but it is what it is. Were in this business to win championships and if he thought that he needed that to win a championship then weve got to give it to him. A championship is a huge thing and that is our only shot a doing so.’Â
Q) ARE SOME OF KEVINS OLD CREW MEMBERS ON THE TEAM TODAY, OR IS THAT A HIRED CREW THAT YOU BRING IN?
Bowyer: ‘Theyre the guys that I plan on winning this race with, so Im fine with it. Were just switching the whole crew. It is what it is. That was the decision that was made and Im fine with it. Ill get my guys back, I know that. A lot of my guys work and build my racecar, so we all work together week in and week out at the race shop and at the race track. I wanted to be the one. They called and told me that that is what they wanted to do and I owed it to those guys to go in and tell them that. On Tuesday morning, I went in myself and got my guys together and I told them what was going to happen, and that I thought we owed it to all the employees’Âthere are 400 employees at RCR, not just those over the wall guys’Âwe owed it to everybody at the engine shop that has been doing an awesome job all year long, from the fab shop to everybody involved, even the guy that mows the grass. We owe it to them guys to bring a championship home and do everything we can do to that.’Â(Team Chevy PR)(10-22-2010)
