Childress says, “It’s F1 type of technology.”
Richard Childress has been seen at NASCAR tracks, since forever. But, since the pandemic, he’s been away from the track but watching from an uncommon place in Welcome, North Carolina.
Childress went to both races at Charlotte. But, that’s only because he owns a condo at the facility with a lookout over the racetrack.
Other than Charlotte, Childress has only visited one other race since the sport returned in May.
On Sunday, Austin Dillon drove to victory lane. His teammate, Tyler Reddick finished in 2nd. They were at the front following a call from the Command Center, which placed both cars in a battle with each other for the the win.
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Richard Childress talks the RCR Command Center
“I wasn’t at home. We have a Command Center at the race shop and that’s where I’ve been watching the races.”
“That’s where all all engineers and everyone calls the race from. They actually made the call, from the Command Center, to do what they did, to both cars.”
“It was pretty cool to be in there and watch how everything works. I’ve been watching all the races there and they people won’t let me come back to another race for awhile, now.”
The command center was the idea of Eric Warren.
“Eric wanted to put it in. We won the race with Ryan Newman, with it. Today, the pit road call and all the technology for both teams to do what we did there at the end, it paid off for us.”
“I can see a lot more right there than I can at the racetrack, actually. I can keep up with what every other car is doing. We can listen to every car. We know where they’re at, we know their strategy, how far they can go and when they have to pit.”
“It’s F1 type of technology. And it’s really working great. It really helps us as far as knowing what our cars are doing.”
Formula One is a world tour of racing circuits. They have a whole series of computers and engineers that study each monitor. They know exactly what’s going on throughout the race. In many cases, the bulk of this is done from home based race shops.
Childress missing the racetrack
“I really really miss the people around the racetrack. The fans, that’s my biggest miss and the racing.”
“My phone has been blowing up. I got over 200 texts and my voicemail is full. That means a lot of folks are watching. Folks that I didn’t even realize were watching races.”
“To give them live entertainment, and for NASCAR to be the first LIVE entertainment back, it’s great. The fans are loving it.”
Related: Austin Dillon and Richard Childress comment on haters of the ‘Silver Spoon Kid’
No practice; No big deal
Teams have returned to racing. But, they’re doing it without practice or qualifying sessions. Recently, NASCAR announced there wouldn’t be any practice or qualifying for the rest of the year.
Childress says technology has made it to where that isn’t a big deal.
“With the amount of technology that every team has today. The technology is right there for everyone to come out and run really good [without practice],” Childress stated.
“We’ve missed it a time or two. But, we’ve been able to adjust back in. Just like Texas, we were a little off at the start and came back.”
The New NASCAR Chevy Camaro
Chevrolet struggled the last two years. Following a wind tunnel test last year, NASCAR saw that the Chevy numbers were low compared to the other makes.
Ahead of 2020, NASCAR allowed Chevy to tweak their body shape. With the new high downforce package, they are the only manufacture that has been able to build a car based on the new rules configuration.
As for this year, Chevrolet is suddenly back at the front of the field.
It’s led to comments from some in the Toyota camp. Hamlin stated that it’s a clear advantage. On the other hand, Jimmie Johnson said it just brought the teams back on par with Toyota and Ford.
“We’ve struggled and everyone knows that. But, Chevy has really worked hard and put together a great car for us,” Richard Childress stated.
“We’ve got a lot better racecar than we’ve had in the past. That’s going to be the difference this year than in the past.”
Childress concluded, “Not that the other car was that bad. But, this car is closer to what the other manufactures that we’re racing are doing.”
Links
Austin Dillon | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Texas Motor Speedway | NASCAR
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