After another poor outing by his drivers at Dover, Richard Childress made no effort to hide his frustration. Kyle Busch endured a fight to salvage an 11th-place finish, while Austin Dillon slid to 15th after running higher early in the race. Childress clearly had reasons to let it out.
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Childress’s anger boiled over during the cooldown lap as Busch wrestled through traffic. Unimpressed with the equipment his team had brought to the track, Childress fired off on the radio: “Gotta get some race cars. We are in trouble. Period.”
Childress didn’t stop there, extending his ire to Dillon’s camp as well. “I’ve seen enough out of our drivers and teams, we’ve got to work on this shit. Period,” he snapped. The owner made it clear that he was unhappy, and Denny Hamlin believes the criticism was aimed at the entire RCR operation.
“He’s not in charge of engineering them. I think he’s challenging his employees to come up with some different answers. He knows that the parts and pieces are the same. What I believe he’s saying is that, ‘We [have] got to put them together better,'” Hamlin said on Actions Detrimental.
Hamlin suggested that the issue could stem from faulty simulations, discrepancies in tire data, or a host of other variables. Even though he admitted he doesn’t know the inner workings of RCR’s program, the Joe Gibbs Racing ace felt he understood the meaning of Childress’ message.
“I’m here speculating that he’s challenging everyone to, you know, ‘We can’t come back with the same thing,'” said Hamlin. Childress was, in essence, acknowledging that the team isn’t fast enough and the drivers need better cars to have a fighting chance at winning races.
Hamlin believes pressure could improve RCR’s performance
The entire RCR camp is mired in a slump. With Busch unable to capitalize even on his strongest tracks and Dillon fading from solid runs to lackluster finishes, Hamlin said that Childress’ public criticism of his team could serve as the wake-up call, leading to better results.
“Certainly, what it will do is it’s going to create a discussion. I’m sure media throughout the week will talk about that,” Hamlin said.
Such a statement from the team owner, Hamlin believes, can put a spotlight on those making critical decisions, putting them under added pressure. And he sees more upside than downside to it.
“The positives outweigh it. I think when you say that you’re having the driver’s back, you’re letting them know that you’re not happy with what you’re bringing for them to compete in. And maybe there needs to be a discussion publicly. Sometimes that works best,” added Hamlin.
RCR’s next test comes at Indianapolis, where fans will be eager to see if Childress’ challenge lights a fire under the team and produces stronger results.
