“I heard the gun go off and I ran”: $250M-worth Richard Childress reveals why he walked away from his ‘moonshine illegal’ secret

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress recently spoke about why he ended his "illegal" business venture on the Dale Jr. Download podcast. He revealed this lesser-known chapter of his journey before becoming one of NASCAR’s most successful team owners.

Richard Childress Racing (RCR), owned by Richard Childress, who is worth $250M (as per Celebrity Net Worth), boasts a 50-year legacy with over 200 wins and 16 championships, including six Cup Series titles with Dale Earnhardt. The first team to win championships across NASCAR’s top three divisions, RCR has also claimed three Daytona 500 victories (1998, 2007, 2018). In 2025, their lineup includes two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and former Truck Series champion Austin Dillon.

Two-time Xfinity Series champion and DJD host Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked the 75-year-old if he was actually a moonshine bootlegger. Childress responded and shared that he never brought it down himself to sell; he simply made deliveries for bootleggers and made money off of that. However, Richard Childress then revealed why he stopped doing so. (via X)

"I'll tell you why I got out of it. It was a killing. I was in the right room. I heard the gun go off and I ran. So that's the drink houses back up there off of old Patterson Avenue, the roughest part of town and it was something," Richard Childress said.

RCR currently fields two entries in the NASCAR Cup Series. the #8 driven by two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, and the iconic #3 Chevrolet is driven by Austin Dillon, who is also the grandson of the team's owner.

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was the lone RCR driver in the pre-season Clash, starting P13 in a 23-car field. However, an on-track incident with Noah Gragson sent him to the back, resulting in a P15 finish in the 200-lap event.

“We’d jump the fence, come in, and do our job”: Richard Childress recounts his humble “peanuts and popcorns” beginnings at the Bowman Gray

Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing, recently reflected on his early NASCAR days as a driver. Before becoming a championship-winning team owner, he competed in over 300 races across the Cup and Xfinity Series. In a FOX Sports interview before the Cook Out Clash, Childress shared how he worked at Bowman Gray before pursuing racing professionally.

"As a kid, we jumped the fence right over here and come in and we just dropped. sell peanuts and popcorn. And then I hang out with all the race drivers back in the day before this was here and we had a heck of a time, you know, down here with the drivers and I said, 'Man, as much fun as they're having, I got to be a racing driver.' That's how I ended up doing it." Richard Childress said

"I came here this evening about an hour by myself. Nobody here with me and just sit there and thought about a lot of the old times and mainly things that happened here." he added

Meanwhile, the Daytona 500 is less than a week away. Can RCR push past their limits this season? Let us know in the comments.