With the 2019 season serving as the 50th anniversary of Richard Childress Racing, we plan to dip into the archives to present the stories of iconic moments, race wins, championships and much more as part of our weekly Throwback Thursday series.
The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series head to Thunder Valley at Bristol Motor Speedway, a track where Richard Childress Racing has recorded a total of nine Cup and eight Xfinity Series wins.
Drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon have all delivered Bristol victories for RCR, but in 2008 it was Burton that led a 1-2-3 charge for the Welcome, North Carolina-based organization.
The March 16, 2008 race was a battle between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Harvick, Bowyer and Burton. Stewart dominated much of the day, leading 267 of the 506 laps, but in the end, the Toyotas would have to deal with the RCR Chevys.
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A caution with nine laps to go brought the RCR teammates to pit road for fresh tires and fuel. With only a handful of laps to go, it looked as if JGR teammates Hamlin and Stewart would run away with the victory but Harvick was closing fast.
As Hamlin drove ahead with the lead, Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet made the move under Stewart for the second spot. Harvick’s car bobbled on the bottom and made contact with Stewart, sending him spinning up the track and into the outside wall. The incident brought out the final caution of the day and set up a green-white-checkered restart.
The three RCR Chevrolets lined up behind Hamlin for the final restart, but after the green flag flew Hamlin’s car shuttered as it struggled with the fuel pickup. That allowed Burton to drive by for the race lead as his teammates followed to claim second and third.
The victory was Burton’s first Cup Series win at Bristol, his second with RCR and came after leading just two laps. It also marked the first time RCR swept the top-two positions, let alone the top three.
Burton was almost a victim of the Bristol carnage, as he made a strong save after contact with Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet nearly sent his No. 31 Chevrolet spinning to the inside wall. Somehow, Burton kept the car straight and avoided any damage.
“Obviously, Harvick and Stewart got together there and that opened the door for me to squeeze in,” Burton said in Victory Lane. “I don’t know if (Hamlin) ran out of gas or what happened, but he quit, and we kept going. It worked out. Without a caution, we wouldn’t have won. We had a good car all day. The (No. 31) Chevrolet wasn’t the best car, but it was always a top-five car. The worst we were was that run.
“Things work out sometimes for you, sometimes they don’t. Today it worked out for us and we’ll take it,” said Burton.
For Harvick, he was able to smile about the runner-up finish but knew the victory was in hand had he not made contact with Stewart late in the run.
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“I just lost it. I got up on the inside there and lost the thing. I was trying to win the race. I hate it,” Harvick told FOX Sports. “A great day for my (No. 29) Chevrolet and all the guys at Richard Childress Racing, 1-2-3 finish that is quite a day.”
Not only did RCR sweep the top three spots in Sunday’s Cup Series race, but Bowyer also provided a weekend sweep after scoring the win in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.
“It was a fun day. We led it early and kind of lost it in the pits, but that wasn’t our fault. Really proud of Gil (Martin, crew chief) and all of the guys,” Bowyer said after his third-place finish. “What a good weekend, won last night and third today – pretty good.”
Beaming in Victory Lane, Childress took in all in as his three teams celebrated the accomplishment together.
“Today was great. I’m happy for everybody at RCR, all of our sponsors and all of our fans. This one is for them. It’s just a special, special day to have our cars to run 1-2-3, and Jeff to win the race” said Childress.
“It’s just hard work, great race drivers and pit crews … Our pit crews have done a fantastic job,” he said. “Man, I couldn’t be prouder of all of them.”
