CONCORD, N.C.
Twenty years after Dale Earnhardt’s famous Pass in the Grass during the Winston at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the man he drove for was in victory lane again Saturday night at the historic 1.5-mile race track.
Kevin Harvick’s victory in the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge was the high point of a busy weekend for former driver Richard Childress, who combined with Earnhardt to win six NASCAR championships and 67 races.
On Friday, Childress announced a partnership with the company Earnhardt built — Dale Earnhardt, Inc. — to build engines for both Nextel Cup race teams. As well a Federal Judge ruled in favor of Childress’s sponsor, AT&T and Cingular, in a fight against NASCAR to allow AT&T, which bought Cingular, to take over Cingular’s sponsorship role on Childress’s No. 31 driven by Jeff Burton.
And all that came while he continued to answer questions about the prospects of Earnhardt’s youngest son, Dale, Jr., who announced last week he would leave DEI, joining the RCR operation next season.
“I haven’t slept a whole lot,” said Childress, who was to leave with Harvick at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning to fly to Iowa, where he was to be grand marshal for a NASCAR Grand National race at Iowa Speedway that Harvick was to compete in.
As well, two RCR development drivers (Tim McCreadie and Ryan Foster) were competing in the event.
“It has been a long year,” Childress continued. “We have had a lot of challenges. I was really happy to come over here and announce the engine merger. We’ve put together a model that you are going to see a lot of. I was looking at where RCR and DEI will be in two years. I’m proud to be back with them, and I know Dale would be proud of what we are doing.”
While Harvick acknowledged he has never liked competing in the All-Star race, Childress, whose team has won the race four times, liked the event even before his team banked more than $1 million Saturday night.
“This has always been one of my favorite races,” he said. “It brings back Saturday night racing like it used to be. All the teams and their families are here, and all the emotions of Saturday night racing come back. Dale loved this race.
“You are going to win or tear it up. We’ve torn up a lot of cars here through the years. I think Kevin wrecked the first time he was in the race that year when it rained.”
Childress is starting to see some of the same things in Harvick, who took the lead with a daring three-wide move on a restart, he often watched in Earnhardt.
“When I saw him dive off in there,” Childress began, “I know how Kevin is good on restarts, and I think he learned some of that from Ron Hornaday, but Kevin was able to pull it off, and he came out with the lead.
“I have been so amazed to watch the growth year after year and how Kevin Harvick has come into his own. He gets smarter and smarter, and I’m proud of what he has done.”
Childress said he thinks Harvick’s ownership of Busch and Truck Series teams has helped their relationship.
“Kevin and I had a rocky year or two there, but when he became a car owner and began to understand the challenges of working with people, he learned that every day isn’t a holiday as a car owner,” Childress said. “And him getting in there and learning about being a car owner has certainly helped our relationship.”