Childress focuses on helping his struggling team

CONCORD -- Richard Childress doesn't appear to be too concerned about Kevin Harvick's possible departure at the end of the 2010 season.

Childress said Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway that he's focused on helping his struggling team move on following a disastrous 2009, not Harvick's status.

Harvick hinted during a television interview recently that he has no plans to remain at Richard Childress Racing when his contract expires next year.

"We'll just see how everything plays out in the future," Childress said. "I didn't see Kevin's interview. I've heard some comments on it, but whatever happens, happens."

Childress is more concerned about turning around RCR's program, which failed to land any of its four Cup cars in the Chase for the championship a year removed from putting the cars of Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer in NASCAR's playoffs.

The longtime owner said peaks and valleys are to be expected but admitted he's a little baffled by the stunning drop-off for one of the series' most successful teams.

"It's such a fine line with this car," Childress said. "If you look at it, other than three, four or five cars people can be off and on, and when you get off sometimes it's hard to get back on."

Childress has made several changes during the year in hopes of kick-starting the program. He allowed Harvick and Casey Mears to switch crew chiefs and recently promoted Burton's crew chief, Scott Miller, to RCR's director of competition.

Childress is optimistic the reorganization will pay off and said he's seen progress in recent races. Harvick and Bowyer ran in the top 10 last week at Auto Club Speedway, and Mears has been a pleasant surprise in his first year with the program.

Yet Mears' success doesn't mean he'll be around next season after Jack Daniel's pulled its sponsorship of his No. 07 Chevrolet. Childress isn't sure he'll be able to find enough funding to sponsor the car for a full season and has no plans for the car to run a partial schedule.

"We're wanting to run it, we can't turn it into a [start and park]," Childress said. "I don't want to do that. I won't do that. ... We've got some sponsorship for a few races next year, but to be competitive that isn't the way to do it."

A decision on the No. 07 will likely be made before the season finale at Homestead.

Childress, who won six Cup titles with Dale Earnhardt, has little doubt RCR will return to challenge Hendrick Motorsports atop the series.

"We can see the crest up there, we've just got to be ready for it," he said.

Just win, baby? Despite tweaking the regular-season points system to reward drivers who won races, there's still a chance Juan Pablo Montoya could win the title without making his way to Victory Lane.

Montoya entered Saturday night's race at LMS trailing Jimmie Johnson by 58 points. The Colombian star has four straight top-fives since the Chase began, the kind of consistency that proves his spot in the Chase was no fluke. If Johnson or Mark Martin falter over the second half of the Chase, Montoya could sneak up and win the title without taking the checkered flag.

And Martin is OK with that.

"To be honest with you, whoever scores the most points wins no matter what," Martin said. "And no matter how many stories you write about it, if a guy won without winning a race ... he would still have the trophy."

Trick or treat: NASCAR's decision to move the fall race at Talladega until the seventh race of the Chase did more than add another wild-card factor. It also set up an interesting prospect: having Halloween on the infield of the massive oval.

The race is on Sunday, Nov. 1, meaning drivers -- if they so choose -- could play a little dress-up and hang out with the notoriously rowdy infield fans on Halloween.

Jeff Gordon joked he'd love to go in disguise and maybe hear what the fans have to say about him. Don't expect Ryan Newman to join in, however.

"I don't do that stuff," Newman said. "Seriously. Look at me, I eat enough candy."

Dollar General 300: Kyle Busch shrugged off walking pneumonia to dominate the Nationwide Series race Friday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, picking up his seventh victory of the year to extend his points lead over Carl Edwards with four races remaining.

Mike Bliss was second, followed by Dave Blaney and Brian Vickers. Edwards finished fifth to drop 195 points behind Busch.

Busch led 137 laps at the 1.5-mile oval and celebrated his first Nationwide win in nearly three months by doing a couple of burnouts after grabbing the checkered flag.

The win was his 28th career Nationwide victory, but his first since mid-July, an eternity for one of NASCAR's top drivers. It was his fifth career win at LMS.

"This is my house, at least on the Nationwide side," Busch said.

The workaholic Busch felt so poorly last weekend he actually hopped out of his No. 18 Toyota early in both the Nationwide and Cup races at Auto Club Speedway. Teammate Denny Hamlin filled in during the Nationwide race before crashing his way to a 31st-place finish, allowing Edwards to gain valuable ground in the points race.

Busch felt better this week, even after being diagnosed with walking pneumonia. He qualified fifth and wasted little time getting to the front, adding to his record lap-leading total. He has led over 2,400 laps this season and barring any catastrophe over the next month will wrap up his first Nationwide title.

Joey Logano, hoping to become just the fifth driver to win three straight Nationwide races, was collected in a seven-car pile up on Lap 70. He pitted eight times for repairs but eventually was black-flagged late in the race.

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