Childress vows to get teams turned around

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Richard Childress' three Winston Cup drivers have earned their paychecks during the first five races of 2003.

It just hasn't been at the front of the pack.

"We've had a hell of race between all three of us," Jeff Green said of teammates Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick. "We just haven't been where we needed to be."

	Kevin Harvick

Most of their competition has taken place from 20th on back, not at the top of the charts. Entering Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Harvick ranks 18th in the Cup point standings. Gordon ranks 21st, and Green sits 35th.

Their finishes aren't much prettier. Since a sixth at Daytona, Gordon has logged a 29th at Rockingham, a 23rd at Las Vegas, a 17th at Atlanta and a 28th at Darlington. Green, the Daytona 500 pole-sitter, finished 39th at Daytona, 31st at Rockingham, 27th at Las Vegas, 25th at Atlanta and 19th at Darlington. Harvick, who was fourth at Daytona, was 25th at Rockingham, 13th at Las Vegas, 19th at Atlanta and 36th at Darlington.

So earlier this week, out popped the first fix: Childress moved Harvick's crew chief, Gil Martin, into a team manager role. Green's former crew chief, Todd Berrier, who'd been working in research and development, became Harvick's new crew chief.

The Harvick-Berrier-Martin combination worked magic in the Busch series, and Childress hopes for a repeat.

"Everybody's got the equipment and stuff today that it takes," Childress said. "It comes down to people making it happen."

"That 29 car is such a high-profile car, because of where it came from," said Mike Beam, Green's crew chief. "I think Richard's just trying to load it with talent. Todd's been there a long time, and Gil does a good job."

Green confident team will turn season around  BRISTOL, Tenn. -- If the 20th position is the Winston Cup point standings' version of the Mendoza line, then you'll need a snorkel to find Jeff Green.  He's vanished from racing radars since capturing the Daytona 500 pole nearly two months ago. As a matter of fact, Green is out of sight at 35th, but he insists circumstances aren't such a drag. Green -- who's in his second full Cup season -- still considers his position more than salvageable.  •  Full story, click here

Beam, who's in his first season working at RCR and with Green, can't discount that he might be the next fix. On Saturday, Childress said he was pleased with the No. 30 despite its record, but no one was immune in the quest to return to prominence.

"We're looking to do engineering people and team managers," Childress said. "So this is our first step in making sure we get where we want."

"I'm just not going to worry about my job," said Beam, a Cup veteran in his 21st season. "I can't, because then you just put pressure on yourself, and you make mistakes. You gotta focus on what it's going to take to get you to where you need to be."

Kevin Hamlin, Gordon's crew chief, said he can't worry, either. Another veteran, he's experienced earlier RCR personnel swaps, going from Mike Skinner's team to the late Dale Earnhardt's in 1998, and switching from Harvick to Gordon last season.

"We all want to run good," Hamlin said. "Whatever it takes for us to do that is what we're wanting to do."

Their equipment hasn't helped. According to Childress, crew chiefs and drivers, RCR apparently missed a few marks when building the season's new Monte Carlos. The entire fleet was beset with too much downforce in the front rather than the rear, a compensation gleaned from some of 2002's structural problems.

"I didn't like that feel," Green said. "I don't think Kevin or Robby did, either."

Green said the discomfort first surfaced at Rockingham, the first race after Daytona's restrictor-plate anomalies. And it didn't stop.

"The drivers kept telling us what they were feeling, and all of us were getting the same feedback," Hamlin said. "So obviously we're sitting there trying to figure out where we went wrong."

	Jeff Green

After the Atlanta race two weeks ago, Beam said all three teams realized the antidote was a drastic one: rebuild the fleet. A few new cars were assembled and tested in the wind tunnel, via simulation and all the available technological tools. The confirmation came at this week's Cup test at Texas, where Harvick drove a new car and validated its improvement.

Both he and Green will drive new cars in next week's Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon's car won't be ready, but he'll drive one of the new chassis at Talladega.

Beam said the balance problems date to a December test at Kentucky Speedway, where all three drivers drove three different body styles and eventually settled on one -- a car built for Green.

"That place had so much grip that it really fooled us," Beam said of the test date's cold, clear weather conditions.

Human factors aside, it's an early, aggravating setback for Childress, whose organization built the new Chevrolet prototype last season for NASCAR.

"That's been our biggest problem," Childress said of the imbalance. "We built a couple of cars and tested them. We're just trying to learn this car. We should've known it."

"I've been loose every week," Green said. "It's just hard to run fast, loose, for me."