Updated Nov. 16
There's no question it has been a long, hard season for Richard Childress Racing.
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| Burton (R) on working with Berrier (L): 'I have a lot of faith in Todd. I think Todd has a lot of faith in me.' (US Presswire) |
As the sun begins to set on the 2009 season, the changes may finally be paying off with the organization seeing a resurgence over the past couple months.
Burton, especially, has seen a marked improvement in performance since Childress paired him with Todd Berrier at the end of October. In three races together, Burton has run off three consecutive top 10s and two top fives, including a season-high second-place finish Sunday at Texas.
Before the change, Burton hadn't finish in the top 10 since June.
"We both have a lot of respect for each other," said Burton of Berrier, who had been working with Casey Mears after starting the season as Harvick's crew chief.
"We came into this thing expecting to perform well. I have a lot of faith in Todd. I think Todd has a lot of faith in me. We're very blunt, very up front, very honest. We just go to work. He's real good about reminding me about things I need to be reminded of. He's everything I thought he was and more."
While the late-season surge has been uplifting, Burton knows success can be fleeting. He doesn't put a whole lot of stock in momentum helping lead to better things in 2010. For Burton, it's the work the team puts in to make the cars better that makes the difference.
"I think 'momentum' is the most overused word in all of sports," Burton said. "I think momentum is created because of success, not success because of momentum. When you have momentum, it's because you're doing the things that it takes to be successful.
"Obviously confidence is important. When you get on a roll, you're doing the things you need to do, it's because you can, it's because your team is capable. Success creates momentum. I don't care who you are, if you're not sitting in a car fast enough, you'll never have momentum because you don't have the stuff it takes to build momentum. "
Power Rankings after Phoenix:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 1 |
| Is there any reason to pick against him other than the belief that the law of averages eventually has to catch up to him? | ||
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | 3 |
| He's got to be fed up watching his teammate rack up the wins and titles. | ||
| 3 | Kurt Busch | 5 |
| Penske is the only Dodge camp in town. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It will be interesting to see how Busch adjusts to new crew chief Steve Addington, who helped lead his brother Kyle to 12 wins the past two seasons. | ||
| 4 | Tony Stewart | 6 |
| Throughout his career he has been the model of consistency with his first season as driver-owner right on par with his career averages. However, he'll need to step up his game during the Chase if he's to snatch the title away from Johnson. Consistency alone won't get the job done like it did in 2005. | ||
| 5 | Clint Bowyer | 9 |
| Of Richard Childress Racing's trio of drivers, he's the one who flies under the radar. But I have a hunch that this could be his breakout season. | ||
| 6 | Kyle Busch | 8 |
| He was dominant at times over the past couple of years, but when his car was off, he tended to pout and his finishes suffered because of it. It's up to Dave Rogers to keep him focused during the bad days. | ||
| 7 | Denny Hamlin | 4 |
| Because of his strong finish to end 2009, many consider him the top challenger to Johnson. But his knee injury concerns me and I think it will affect his performance as the season drags on. | ||
| 8 | Carl Edwards | 15 |
| I don't know that I expect him to climb all the way back to 2008 levels when he had nine wins, but he should be much improved from 2009 when he had none. | ||
| 9 | Mark Martin | 2 |
| He had a magical season in his return to full-time racing with Hendrick Motorsports, but I don't believe he'll hit that same level in 2010. | ||
| 10 | Jeff Burton | 11 |
| He was among the hottest drivers the last few weeks of the 2009 season, but we have seen so often that momentum doesn't always carry over. | ||
| 11 | Greg Biffle | 10 |
| He's a lot like Bowyer in that I don't think he gets the amount of respect he probably deserves. He has championship ability; I'm just not sure his crew is up to the challenge. | ||
| 12 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 7 |
| To be honest, I have no idea what to expect of Montoya entering this season. I think he can be in the mix again, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he takes a step back. | ||
| 13 | Matt Kenseth | 12 |
| He's never been the same since he lost Robbie Reiser as crew chief, and I don't have a whole lot of confidence that he's going to rediscover that magic without him. | ||
| 14 | Kasey Kahne | 14 |
| Like Harvick, he's a pending free agent with many believing he has got one foot out the door. But he has seemed awfully excited about the Roush-Yates power he has under the hood with Richard Petty Motorsports' switch to Fords. | ||
| 15 | Brian Vickers | NR |
| Can the team rediscover the consistency that helped vault him and his Red Bull team into the Chase for the first time or were his dreadful runs during the Chase a sign of things to come? | ||
