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RCR owner Richard Childress once refused to speak on reports claiming the team's star driver Kevin Harvick was prepared to leave the team at the end of the 2013 season. At the time, he was running in his 12th Cup Series season for the team.
Harvick is one of the most consistent drivers to set foot on the NASCAR field. He debuted in the Cup Series back in 2001 with Richard Childress Racing and amassed many victories and was a close contender for the championship, however, never won any with the team.
As the 2012 Cup Series season came to a close, reports spread that Harvick was prepared to end his partnership with RCR and move to Stewart-Haas Racing. This was set to be a tough move for team owner Richard Childress as he would have been potentially losing a very competitive driver. Responding to the reports, he mentioned that he wouldn't talk about anything beyond 2013.
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"I've got a contract for 2013 and this is 2012,'' Childress said in 2012 (via ESPN). "I'm not talking to you about nothing (regarding that).''
Moreover, Kevin Harvick had also not given a clear answer regarding the speculation.
"I'm looking forward to finishing out this season on a strong note with RCR and continuing to build our program going into the 2013 season with the ultimate goal of winning a championship," Harvick said. "Anything beyond that, once I know what my future plans are set, I'll let you know."
He ultimately made the move. At the end of the 2013 season, he bid farewell to RCR and moved to Stewart-Haas Racing. He won the Cup Series championship in his first year with the team and remained competitive until the end of his career in 2023.
Richard Childress once reflected on his heated conversation with Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick had quite a bit of success with RCR in his initial years. He won more than 20 races with the team, including the Great American Race, the Daytona 500, in 2007.
While his stint with the team remained very competitive, he remained winless in 2008 and 2009, much like the 2004 season. In those years, he came close to winning many times, but was just far enough from clinching the victory. The results were unpredictable and saw him finishing out of the top-20 every other race.
With the frustration building up, both Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress were once involved in a heated conversation on the driver's radio. However, this did not impact their relationship as Childress would later explain.
"We are both people who have no problem speaking our minds, even when we should keep those thoughts to ourselves, especially on the radio when everyone in the grandstands can hear us," Childress said via ESPN in April 2023. "But that fire is also what you want in a race car driver. Sometimes that fire is going to burn some stuff down. And we did."
Kevin Harvick retired from the Cup Series at the end of the 2023 season. He ended his career with Stewart-Haas Racing. He clinched 60 wins and 444 top-10s over the course of his career.
