RacingDude
Number of posts : 935
Location : IL
Registration date : 2009-01-18
 | | Subject: Harvick and Mears to swap crews Thu Apr 23, 2009 3:11 am | |
| - Quote :
- By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
With Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick stuck in a 79-race winless streak and currently 16th in points, and Casey Mears currently 22nd in points, team owner Richard Childress has opted to swap the crews that Harvick and Mears work with in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Childess announced the changes, which start following this weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, today in a news release. The swap of crews includes virtually all personnel with the exception of spotters.
“The decision to interchange the 29 and 07 teams was made to make both programs stronger and more successful,” Childress said in a news release of the cars fielded for Harvick and Mears, respectively. “Our main objective has always been to have all four of RCR’s teams qualify for the Chase For The Sprint Cup. Neither team has had the success this season that we know they’re capable of, so we decided it was time to make a change to improve the two teams and the overall strength of RCR. We feel this change positions us to achieve that goal.
Martin] are proven winners who have strong and successful teams behind them. Chemistry is an important part of any successful organization, and I felt it was time to change the makeup of these two teams. We’ve done this before with positive results.”
Harvick, who won the 2001 title in what is now the Nationwide Series with Berrier as his crew chief and has been paired with Berrier on the Cup side since March 2003, will now work with crew chief Martin and his crew. Berrier and his team will now work with Mears.
Harvick and Berrier, who has been with RCR since 1994, won eight races together but had not been to victory lane since the 2007 Daytona 500.
Both Martin and Berrier are accustomed to getting into the Chase For The Sprint Cup. Berrier has led Harvick into the Chase the last three years, while Martin led Clint Bowyer into the Chase the last two.
RCR’s other two teams currently are in the top 12 in points, with Bowyer sixth and Jeff Burton 11th.
Martin was co-owner and crew chief of the FILMAR Racing team from 1989-1997 and was at Bill Davis Racing before landing at RCR in 2001. He was a crew chief in the former Busch Series before becoming crew chief for Robby Gordon and then Harvick in May 2002. He won one race with Harvick in 2002 but moved over to team manager when Berrier took over in March 2003. He worked in the then-Busch Series in 2004 and 2005 and moved to Cup with Bowyer in 2006. -Jayski | |
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roosterrage
Number of posts : 481
Location : AL
Registration date : 2009-01-15
| | Subject: Re: Harvick and Mears to swap crews Tue May 05, 2009 8:03 pm | |
| Both teams need a spark for sure. | |
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