Bird's-eye view

Childress gives insight into qualifying routine

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Richard Childress muscles his way up a hauler ladder, his blue radio headphones flapping against one hip, sunglasses parked firmly across his face. It's qualifying day at Darlington Raceway, and he's looking for a numerical tonic to match the sun-baked warmth of the hauler roof.

"They all three practiced in the top 10," he says of drivers and Richard Childress Racing teammates Robby Gordon, Jeff Green and Kevin Harvick. "So if they do as good as they practiced, we'll be in good shape."

A persistent breeze ruffles flags and hair. At jet-stream level, it hurries cotton-ball clouds eastward, blotching the infield, track and hooky-playing fans with shadows. Childress squints skyward, meteorology suddenly more important than mechanics. Gordon is fourth in the qualifying draw, and sunshine returns moments before his No. 31 Chevrolet leaves pit road.

"That sun popping out isn't doing any good for Robby because the track heats up so quick," says Childress.

Gordon exits onto Darlington's pebble-rough asphalt, gathering speed as he circles the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. He takes the green flag as he reaches the finish line. Drivers have two qualifying laps, but may run only one if they're happy with their first effort; few ever are. Childress rotates atop the hauler as No. 31 roars through turns, back down the frontstretch.

Seconds after he takes the checkered flag, Gordon's radio voice crackles, "Too loose all the way through."

"I can remember coming here several years ago and Dale [Earnhardt] running a 29-seconds.," We thought we were something that day to run a 29 and now here we are running a 28." Richard Childress Team owner, Richard Childress Racing

A fix-it dialogue with crew chief Gil Martin ensues. Childress adds a few words, then points toward the track, where Ken Schrader's Pontiac is now a yellow-tinged blur.

"He was too loose down between [turns] 1 and 2," Childress says of Gordon. "He had to roll out of it and I don't know if that made a difference."

Gordon's speed is third-fastest so far, 167.499 miles per hour.

Or, "Thirty-five-nine," Childress says, quoting the numbers behind the decimal point of Gordon's fastest lap -- officially, 29.359 seconds. Teams track progress by milliseconds, not miles per hour, so the most-examined numbers on the computer screens mounted atop every hauler are post-decimal increments.

Right now, everyone's best tops 29 seconds.

Childress returns to meteorology as Harvick, the ninth qualifier, prepares for his run. "We could have used a better cloud," he says of the latest cotton ball, "but we'll take it."

Harvick fares better than Gordon -- 29.183 seconds.

"Eighteen-three, Kevin," Childress tells him on the radio.

"It's still just a touch too tight," replies Harvick.

Crew chief Kevin Hamlin chairs another fix-it conversation. Childress retires to the aluminum bench welded to one corner of the hauler's protective roof railing. On either side of his vehicle, other crew members, chiefs and owners perform the same watch-and-wait ballet; circling their hauler roofs as cars circle the track, squinting periodically at shaded computer screens.

"An 18 will be 15th or 16th today," predicts Childress. "Everybody's getting some pretty decent laps out there."

He admits a certain conservancy. RCR teams have struggled with engines in 2002, a situation made more glaring because of NASCAR's new one-engine rule. Still, he knows what's possible. Rookie Ryan Newman follows Harvick with a 28.945-second run, temporarily grabbing the pole, and Childress cites recent history -- a record performance by Harvick's predecessor, the late Dale Earnhardt.

"I can remember coming here several years ago and Dale running a 29-seconds," Childress says. "We thought we were something that day to run a 29 and now here we are running a 28."

How long ago?

"Four years ago."

Drivers zip on and off the track. Clouds scuttle across the flat, sandy South Carolina midland. Childress waits for Green, the 35th of 43 qualifiers. He says to watch, and listen, his eyes and ears fine-tuned by nearly 40 years of NASCAR experience. Computerized timing has eliminated the need for stopwatches and legal pads, but engine whine still betrays a driver's foot, emits an almost imperceptible hiccup when someone "lifts." A hauler-top view frames drivers' lines -- those who drift too high in turns 3 and 4, dive too abruptly onto the frontstretch.

"It's so narrow, it's almost a one groove track," says Childress. "Mostly because the walls are so close to you. You race the race track, you don't race the competition. I loved it. I loved to race here."

Harvick remains in the top 10. Gordon slips down the list.

"Robby's probably 20th or 25th," says Childress.

Meanwhile, Newman hangs onto the pole. The other high-profile rookie, Jimmie Johnson, nabs a temporary top-five spot with a 29.061-second effort. Childress says both rookies are legitimate. Using a pen and a pre-printed sheet, he checks off remaining qualifiers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Park, Jimmy Spencer, Ricky Craven, Jeff Burton, Bill Elliott, and the very last guy, Jeff Gordon, as pole threats.

Finally, a NASCAR official motions Green on the track.

Childress paces the hauler roof while watching the No. 30 Chevrolet, one hand shielding his sunglasses from glare. Green doesn't lift as he enters turns 1 and 2 on his first official lap; the backstretch entrance is fluid.

"He looked good through there," confides Childress.

It's good enough -- 29.133 seconds -- for a temporary fifth place.

"Ran a 13," says Childress, clearly pleased.

The afternoon ends with Ricky Craven on the pole at 28.912 seconds. Jeff Gordon, the last challenger, settles for the outside pole with 28.915 seconds.

And Childress proves a prophet: Green starts fifth, Harvick starts 16th. Robby Gordon starts 28th.

"At the end of the day, they're still within a thousandth [of a second]," says Childress, gesturing with headphones; a smile creases his face. "That's the blink of an eye."

 

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