NASCAR team owner Richard Childress confirmed what driver Kevin Harvick would not since November 2012.
Harvick will leave Childress, where he has been since his first Cup race in 2001, and drive for friend and team owner Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. Childress, who spoke Monday night at NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Media Tour, talked about knowing about Harvick’s plans last year before the race at Phoenix International Raceway — a race Harvick would win to snap a 44-race winless streak.
“We had a meeting and he told me his plans and we discussed what we were going to do in ’13,” Childress said Monday. “He’ll do well over there at Stewart-Haas, and RCR will keep going and moving forward. I think him and Tony will have a good relationship.” Stewart, who spoke to the media earlier Monday about his three-car team that includes Ryan Newman and Danica Patrick, has hinted at adding a fourth car to the Stewart-Haas Racing stable. Harvick, meanwhile, told reporters he didn’t have “anything to tell you for 2014.”
On Monday, Childress said he did not know whether sponsor Budweiser would leave RCR along with Harvick. “They haven’t made any comments on what they’re going to do,” Childress said. Though Childress admitted he knew Harvick’s plans before Phoenix, he said he was surprised when word leaked out because he didn’t expect it to be released until after the postseason awards banquet.
As for the future, Childress welcomes grandson Austin Dillon into the fold this season. Dillon is slated to race the Daytona 500, among a handful of other Cup races. Burton and Menard are signed through 2013. (USA Today)
