"He spends a lot of money": When Richard Childress turned to Andy Petree to fix RCR's struggles

In 2017, Richard Childress brought in Andy Petree to bring back the glory days at Richard Childress Racing in NASCAR. Petree is a former championship-winning crew chief who worked with the great Dale Earnhardt from 1993 to 1995.

Petree worked at RCR during its golden age — the time when Earnhardt Sr. was in his prime. Together, they won two championships in 1993 and 1994 and finished as runners-up in 1995. Prior to his RCR switch, he worked for Richard and Leo Jackson's racing team in the Cup Series.

Petree was the crew chief for Phil Parsons from 1987 to 1988 and Harry Gant from 1989 to 1992. After he moved out of RCR, he fielded teams for Bobby Hamilton and Joe Nemechek (currently Legacy Motor Club driver John Hunter Nemechek's father) and won twice.

Given his extensive experience in the Cup Series, Childress decided to bring him in and put him in charge of his then struggling team. Petree, who arrived at RCR and took over as the Vice President of Competition, was also aware of how Mr. Childress was committed to winning and did everything to win.

"Richard is totally committed to winning, I can tell you that,” Petree told NASCAR.com. “And that’s the whole reason behind this. Richard is very involved with everything that goes on at RCR and he has been forever. Well, they’re not running well and it’s a really, really big machine. He’s trying to figure it all out and he needs help."

Petree added how Richard Childress Racing has state-of-the-art facilities at its Welcome, North Carolina base, which is enough for a team to become a champion. Here's what he said:

"He spends a lot of money. They’ve got every single tool that they need to work with and most of it is state of the art. There is no reason that they are not one of the leading cars or top cars every week. And so he’s frustrated," Petree said.

Richard Childress founded Richard Childress Racing in 1969, and as of 2025, the team has 14 Championships in total — six in the Cup Series, five in the Xfinity Series, two in the Truck Series, and one in the ARCA Racing series.

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Coming into 2025, Richard Childress Racing still struggling

Despite doing everything an owner can do, Richard Childress's Richard Childress Racing is still struggling in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Welcome-based team currently fields two full-time drivers in the top tier of stock car racing, and none of them qualified for the playoffs last season.

Kyle Busch (8) and driver Austin Dillon (3) race for position during the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

Kyle Busch, one of NASCAR's star drivers who drives the #8 entry for RCR, is winless for nearly 21 months. His last victory for RCR came at the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Race on June 4, 2023.

RCR's other driver is Austin Dillon, Richard Childress' grandson. Even though he won the Richmond Raceway race last year, the last lap ordeal where he wrecked Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano prevented him from qualifying for the NASCAR playoffs.