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Bossman Richard Childress Goes Off On RCR Team Members After Dover

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Richard Childress

NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress was not a happy man after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway.

How displeased was the owner and founder of Richard Childress Racing, which fields the No. 8 Chevrolet of Kyle Busch and the No. 3 Chevy of Austin Dillon?

Displeased enough to voice his frustrations to members of both the No. 8 and No. 3 teams just moments after the race ended.

Richard Childress Is No Doubt Missing The Glory Days Of RCR

As a six-time NASCAR Cup Series champion team owner with the late Dale Earnhardt, Richard Childress grew accustomed to winning on a regular basis for the better part of two decades alongside “The Intimidator.”

That success continued, albeit to a lesser extent, even after Earnhardt’s death with Kevin Harvick as RCR’s flagship wheelman.

But since Harvick left RCR at the end of 2013, wins have been very hard to come by for the Welcome, North Carolina-based organization.

In the nearly 12 seasons since Harvick’s departure, RCR drivers have gone to Victory Lane a total of just 12 times.

Three of those triumphs have come courtesy of Kyle Busch, who joined the company in 2023 after an amazing 15-year run at Joe Gibbs Racing where he captured 56 victories and two Cup Series championships.

But aside from a lone triumph by Austin Dillon last year at Richmond, RCR has not celebrated since Busch picked up his most recent win a little over two years ago at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.

Although Busch remains in the hunt for a playoff berth, his 2025 season has overall been a disappointment. Ditto for Dillon, whose only hope of making the playoffs is to win one of the last five regular season races.

So, understandably, Childress is not OK with the performance of either team. And on Sunday at Dover, he decided to finally wear his emotions on his sleeve.

What Happened To Make Legendary Team Owner Go Off At The Monster Mile?

Sunday’s race at Dover had the potential to bear significant fruit for both Richard Childress Racing drivers.

Coming into the weekend a three-time winner at the 1-mile concrete oval, Busch saw an opportunity to make up some ground in the Cup Series playoff standings and possibly even get his first win of the season.

Dillon had equal reason for optimism once the race began, putting his No. 3 car inside the top 10 for an extended period. In the end, though, neither RCR driver managed to maximize their day.

Busch finished 11th after the handling on his car grew worse in the second half of the race. As a result, the veteran driver actually left Dover in a slightly worse position to make the playoffs.

Dillon likewise faded down the home stretch, coming home 15th.

During the cooldown lap after the race, as both Busch and Dillon headed for the garage, Childress had finally seen enough. He jumped on the radio channel of both the No. 3 team and No. 8 team to deliver similarly stern messages to each group.

“(We’ve) gotta get us some race cars. We are in trouble — period,” Childress said bluntly to Busch’s No. 8 bunch.

Childress might have offered an even harsher critique of the guys who prepare and pit the No. 3 car of Dillon, his oldest grandson.

You can read and hear his comments to that group for yourself.

While it might have been hard for the members of both RCR teams to hear their boss be so terse after a long day, this much is certain: They know exactly where he stands.

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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