childress racing owner s richard childress base 425 industrial drive welcome north carolina 27374 series sprint cup series xfinity series car numbers 03 07 2 3 8 12 13 20 21 22 27 29 30 31 33 39 41 51 62 90 98 race drivers sprint cup series 3 . austin dillon 27 . paul menard 31 . ryan newman xfinity series 2 . austin dillon paul menard ben kennedy sam hornish jr. a. j. allmendinger michael mcdowell regan smith 3 . ty dillon 33 . brandon jones 62 . brendan gaughan sponsors sprint cup series 3 . dow weathertech cheerios bass pro shops american ethanol nexium 24hr aaa mid atlantic 27 . menards peak duracell valvoline sylvania certainteed pittsburg paints fvp schrock s moen nibco libman knauf tarkett rockstar energy 31 . caterpillar grainger wix filters kalahari resorts xfinity series 2 . rheem menards 3 . bass pro shops rheem wesco american ethanol 33 . menards roland dga thunder coal e z go aaa mid atlantic nexteer automotive okuma texas rangers cometic gasket 62 . south point manufacturer chevrolet opened 1969 career debut sprint cup series 1969 talladega 500 talladega xfinity series 1995 sundrop 400 hickory camping world truck series 1995 skoal bandit copper world classic phoenix latest race sprint cup series 2016 bank of america 500 charlotte xfinity series 2016 kansas lottery 300 kansas camping world truck series 2014 pocono mountains 150 pocono races competed total 4 087 sprint cup series 2 588 xfinity series 1 177 camping world truck series 322 drivers championships total 13 sprint cup series 6 1986 1987 1990 1991 1993 1994 xfinity series 4 2001 2006 2008 2013 camping world truck series 2 1995 2011 arca racing series 1 2011 race victories total 213 sprint cup series 105 xfinity series 77 camping world truck series 31 pole positions total 150 sprint cup series 48 xfinity series 63 camping world truck series 39 rcr enterprises llc doing business as richard childress racing is an american professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the nascar sprint cup series and the xfinity series . the team is based in welcome north carolina and is owned and operated by former driver richard childress . in the sprint cup series the team currently fields the no. 3 dow chevrolet ss full time for austin dillon the no. 27 menards chevrolet ss full time for paul menard and the no. 31 caterpillar inc. chevrolet ss full time for ryan newman . rcr also occasionally runs the no. 95 chevrolet ss through a technical alliance with circle sport leavine family racing . in addition to its in house cup series teams rcr has technical alliances with three other cup series teams leavine family racing ; germain racing which fields the no. 13 chevrolet ss for casey mears ; and jtg daugherty racing which fields the no. 47 chevrolet ss for a. j. allmendinger . rcr previously held a technical alliance with furniture row racing until the end of 2015 . beyond this rcr also has collaborative agreements with tommy baldwin racing and premium motorsports although these are not technical alliances . in the xfinity series the team currently fields the no. 2 rheem menards chevrolet camaro full time for part time drivers austin dillon and paul menard the no. 3 bass pro shops yuengling wesco rheem chevrolet camaro full time for ty dillon the no. 33 menards nexteer automotive chevrolet camaro full time for brandon jones and the no. 62 south point chevrolet camaro full time for brendan gaughan . rcr has fielded cars for notables such as dale earnhardt ricky rudd neil bonnett and kevin harvick . rcr has had at least one car in every cup race since late 1972 the longest such active streak . contents 1 sprint cup series 1.1 car no. 3 history 1.1.1 1969 1983 beginnings 1.1.2 1984 2001 dale earnhardt 1.1.3 2001 2013 kevin harvick 1.1.4 2014 present austin dillon 1.2 car no. 27 history 1.2.1 2001 2004 no. 30 1.2.2 2005 2009 no. 07 1.2.3 2011 present no. 27 1.3 car no. 31 history 1.3.1 1988 1994 beginnings 1.3.2 1996 july 2001 mike skinner 1.3.3 july 2001 2004 robby gordon 1.3.4 2005 2013 jeff burton 1.3.5 2014 present ryan newman 1.4 car no. 33 history 1.4.1 october 2003 2008 part time beginnings 1.4.2 2009 2011 full time 1.4.3 2012 2015 back to part time 1.5 car no. 98 history 2 xfinity series 2.1 car no. 2 history 2.1.1 2012 present 2.2 car no. 3 history 2.3 car no. 21 history 2.4 car no. 29 history 2.5 car no. 33 history 2.6 car no. 62 history 3 camping world truck series 3.1 truck no. 2 history 3.2 truck no. 3 history 3.3 truck no. 39 history 3.4 truck no. 62 history 4 driver development 4.1 k & n pro series & arca racing series 5 partnerships and affiliations 5.1 ecr engines 5.2 technical alliances 6 sponsorship controversies 6.1 2007 7 see also 8 references 9 external links sprint cup series edit car no. 3 history edit dale earnhardt s 1994 racecar dale earnhardt in the no. 3 car 1969 1983 beginnings edit rcr debuted at the 1969 talladega 500 as a 1968 chevy numbered 13 . childress himself drove the car finishing 23rd after suffering axle problems . in 1972 the team came back to run fourteen races with childress driving again but didn t go full time until 1976 when he would begin using the no. 3 . childress earned eleven top 10 finishes and finished eleventh in points that year . over the next few years he posted many top 10s and twice was among the highest top 10 points earners but he never was in serious contention to win . in 1981 he decided to end his career before the season ended and handed his no. 3 ride to the defending winston cup champion dale earnhardt who brought his wrangler sponsorship with him . after posting six top tens earnhardt left to drive for bud moore and ricky rudd took his place for the 1982 season with piedmont airlines becoming the sponsor . rudd drove the car for both 1982 and 1983 finishing 9th in points both years and winning twice the latter . but after the season was over rudd was replaced by earnhardt with wrangler back as sponsor in perhaps an odd twist of fate rudd moved to earnhardt s old ride the no. 15 bud moore engineering wrangler sponsored ford thunderbird which actually kept its sponsorship despite earnhardt leaving . 1 1984 2001 dale earnhardt edit this time earnhardt was back for good winning six championships over the next two decades 1 with crew chiefs kirk shelmerdine and andy petree and goodwrench replacing wrangler as the primary sponsor after 1987 . in the late 1990s earnhardt s performance began to slow down and went through 1997 without a victory . the next year he won the daytona 500 after 20 starts all ending in losses . the year after that one he was able to score wins at talladega as well as cause more controversy after he spun terry labonte out to win a race at bristol . in 2000 he looked like he was finally regaining his old form winning twice and finishing runner up to bobby labonte in points and his many fans hoped he was gearing up for his record breaking 8th championship . however this was not to be . 2001 2013 kevin harvick edit harvick awaiting happy hour prior to his win at phoenix at 2006 harvick s 2008 sprint cup car following dale earnhardt s death on the last lap of the 2001 daytona 500 childress changed the number of the car from 3 to 29 inverted the original paint scheme and tabbed his 25 year old busch series driver kevin harvick to drive it . harvick originally was scheduled to drive the no. 30 car part time before going full time in 2002 ; but the death of the 7 time winston cup champion rushed harvick into the spotlight . 2 in just his third winston cup start harvick beat jeff gordon by mere inches .006 seconds to win the cracker barrel 500 at atlanta motor speedway dedicating the win to earnhardt . 3 after posting another win at chicagoland speedway harvick won nascar winston cup rookie of the year honors . in 2002 his infamous temper escalated after announcing on his radio he would intentionally wreck another driver during a craftsman truck series race . in response nascar benched harvick for the next race and was replaced during that time by kenny wallace . since then harvick has won eight races including the prestigious brickyard 400 and daytona 500 while scoring a at the time career best points effort of 4th in both 2006 and 2008 . despite a win early in the season back to back seasons of missing the chase for the nextel cup with 14th place efforts proved to be frustrating as harvick threatened to leave the team if performance did not improve . a series of strong runs near the end of 2005 seemed to satisfy him however and he was back in the car in 2006 with reese s as a new co primary sponsor . after a somewhat slow start harvick hit his stride in april with a string of top 10 finishes including a win at phoenix . he eventually made the chase and led the standings for the first time in the first week of the chase . this helped rcr to be a dominant force in nascar again . after weeks of speculation as to where kevin would drive starting in 2007 he and rcr announced a new three year deal that he would drive for him until 2009 . for 2007 the team had a significant change in sponsorship . gm goodwrench would move to an associate sponsor role on the no. 29 while shell oil company and pennzoil took over the primary sponsorships . harvick s 2007 season started out on a high note with a win in the daytona 500 in a close finish with veteran mark martin . harvick would score another win at the all star race holding off jimmie johnson . harvick entered a slump during the summer and was involved in a trackside altercation with juan pablo montoya . however harvick and his team held off a struggling dale earnhardt jr. to make the chase for the cup . harvick s chase performance would not be a repeat of 2006 and he would finish 10th in the points . harvick won the 2009 budweiser shootout and finished second in the daytona 500 . harvick in the 2013 stp gas booster 500 at martinsville speedway . one of harvick s final runs with rcr in a black & red rheem chevy in 2013 . after not making the 2009 chase for the sprint cup it was expected that harvick would leave rcr after his contract ends at the conclusion of the 2010 season . however after a strong start to the 2010 season winning the 2010 aaron s 499 at talladega and the coke zero 400 at daytona harvick signed a multi year extension to his rcr contract in may 2010 . harvick went on to finish 3rd in points for the 2010 season the highest finish of his career . the team s sponsor shell oil company and pennzoil left after the 2010 season and joined penske racing . budweiser replaced it as the car s primary sponsor beginning in the 2011 season . harvick and the 29 team recorded three wins early in the year at fontana martinsville and charlotte . the team s consistency kept them near the top of the standings and they recorded a fourth win at the 26th race in richmond . despite the team s chase performance being inconsistent harvick would finish third in points