Richard Childress Racing is a professional stock car team that competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The company debuted in the Daytona 500 in 1968 and has been thriving since it’s induction. NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. raced for Richard Childress Racing and won six championships in two decades. As of now, the organization fields three drivers at the elite level of competition. Those drivers are Richard Childress’s grandson Austin Dillon, Paul Menard and crafty veteran Ryan Newman.
#3 Austin Dillon:
In his second full-time season Austin Dillon has shown some vast improvement from one year to the next. The greenhorn has competed admirably for his grandfathers racing incorporation in 2016. Dillon has driven his #3 Dow/American Ethanol/Cheerios Chevrolet to some impressive qualifying results. Because of these improvements, his on track performances during the main events have progressed to a higher level.
Austin Dillon has qualified in the top ten in six of the 18 events thus far. He also captured his first pole at Talladega races way in May of this year. At the tracks where the greenhorn has started well he also has finished well. Of the six top ten starts he has correlated that into four top ten finishes. His top finish of the Sprint Cup season came in that exact race. The speedy Dillon crossed the finish line with an impressive third place result.
Richard Childress Racing has always excelled on the larger tracks with more open throttle speeds, Dillon follows that suit in spades. Of the racer’s eight top tens, five have came at larger, faster speedways. In addition to his third place finish at Talladega Super speedway, the greenhorn also finish in the top 10 twice at Daytona. The outcomes show that Dillon is getting better at leading his car in the draft at the restrictor-plate venues.
Overall, Austin Dillon has three top five’s and eight top ten’s. He currently has earned one Coors Light Pole Award for his efforts at Fontana. The feisty competitor currently sits 14th in the Sprint Cup Series points race. As a result, he would qualify by driver points for the Chase, if the season was to end today. Las Vegas insiders have the speedster at 100/1 to make the playoffs and drive on to capture his first Sprint Cup title.
#31 Ryan Newman:
Ryan Newman is a savvy veteran driver who joined the Richard Childress Racing team in 2014. His first year with the organization was a glaring success. After a slow start, Newman collected impressive finishes to end the regular season but fell just one point shy of making the playoffs.
In 2015 the disciplined driver re-cooped the momentum from the 2014 season. Ryan Newman finished with five to five’s and 15 top ten’s. He qualified for the playoffs and finished out the season in a respectable 11th place.
The consistent racer is at it again through the middle part of the 2016 campaign. Ryan Newman has reeled in collected one top five finish and six top ten’s. More importantly, he has only failed to finish in one of the 18 races on the season.
Once again he started slow averaging a 18.1 place finish through the first ten races. Since the start, Newman has found his groove and lowered his finishing average to 10.6. The battle tested racer currently sits in 12th in the Sprint Cup Series point standings. Line-setters have him also at 100/1 to bring home the bacon in 2016.
#27 Paul Menard:
Paul Menard is the third teammate that fields a Richard Childress Racing machine on a full-time basis. This is the drivers sixth season with the team that helped him achieve his first Chase birth in 2015. Menard drove his familiar #27 Menards sponsored, bright yellow Chevrolet to a 14th place finish last year. He scooped up only two top five’s and six top ten’s but was as consistent as they come. The seasoned racer was rewarded with his first playoff birth.
This year has been a bit of a struggle for Paul Menard. He has managed to only capture one top ten finish at the tracks visited so far. The racer’s best finish came at Martinsville Speedway where all three of the Richard Childress Racing teammates also have excelled. The thorn in Menard’s side this year is his inability to keep his race car on the track. The versed talent has failed to finish in four of the 18 contests he has started in. Bookie’s ranking reflect that and have him at a 200/1 favorite to win it all in 2016.
