Richard Childress has been a NASCAR Cup Series team owner for more than 30 years during which time his drivers have combined for nearly 90 race wins and no less than half a dozen championships with the late Dale Earnhardt but on Sunday at the Bristol Motor Speedway his current crop of driving talent made team history as Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer took a top three clean sweep in the Food City 500.
On the one-year anniversary of the debut of the ‘Car of Tomorrow' Burton scrambled through a dramatic final ten laps of the half-mile Bristol oval to claim his, and Chevrolet's, first win of 2008 as last weeks winning team Joe Gibbs Racing saw their own potential 1-2 finish evaporate almost within sight of the chequered flag.
In keeping with the rest of the weekend Sunday's weather was dull and overcast although that didn't deter more than 160,000 fans who crammed themselves into Bristol's coliseum-like grandstands in the hope of watching a race far superior to the one offered up last weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. They weren't to be disappointed.
Jimmie Johnson, who sat on the pole following Friday's qualifying rain-out, led the first 14 laps in his #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before Burton's RCR teammate Bowyer breezed through and from that point onwards all bar five of the remaining 486 laps were led by cars from either the RCR or Joe Gibbs Racing stables.
Bowyer led the remainder of the opening 100 laps in the #07 Jack Daniels backed entry, which included a NASCAR mandated ‘competition caution' after 50 laps and another brief yellow flag period ten laps later for Robby Gordon's single car spin. A third caution period after 90 laps for debris saw Michael Waltrip stay on track rather than pit for fresh tyres and the #55 NAPA Toyota led for a handful of laps before Tony Stewart took control in the #20 Home Depot Toyota.