The financial services institution will appear as primary sponsor on the car for five races in 2012: the March race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the April races at Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway, the May race at Darlington Raceway, and the June race at Dover International Speedway. BB&T will also be featured on a special paint scheme with Caterpillar during the Sprint All Star Race.

Team owner Richard Childress said:

BB&T has been a great partner of RCR over the years so we’re very pleased to renew our program with them. It’s always beneficial working with a partner like BB&T that has strong ties to the area.

Honestly, we’re still trying today. We both agreed if an opportunity comes for him he needs to take it. But yes, we’re still trying to put something together this week and last week.

If Bowyer does leave, there are four or five other drivers who Childress would consider putting in the car. While Childress wouldn’t mention any drivers, prime candidates are Brian Vickers, Mark Martin (who is rumored to be headed to Stewart Haas Racing) and possibly David Ragan if he loses his ride at Roush Fenway Racing due to a lack of sponsorship.

Childress didn’t rule out Austin Dillon for the ride. But, he would put another driver in the car, as well. The plan is for Dillon to drive in the Nationwide Series full time, with Childress’ other grandson Ty Dillon replacing him in the No. 3  Bass Pro Shops Chevy in the Camping World Truck Series.

If sponsorship cannot be found, the No. 33 team would most likely drop to the Nationwide Series for Dillon.

Team owner Richard Childress said:

Todd has been an important part of RCR’s success for many years. He is still employed and under contract and his role with RCR will be determined in the near future. … Luke will be the interim crew chief until further notice. He has a strong grasp of the job requirements and an established line of communication with Jeff (Burton) so we have every confidence that he will do a great job.

Lambert added:

I’m honored that Richard and Jeff have the confidence in me to lead the Cat Racing team. This is a talented group of guys who know what it takes and has been successful so there’s no reason to think we can’t be successful moving forward.

Burton and Berrier have struggled this season. Burton has no wins, no top 5s, and no top 10s thus far in the season, and he sits 25th in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He joins AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Juan Montoya, and Martin Truex Jr as drivers who have recently experienced crew chief changes.

Childress said:

We’re working really hard right now on sponsorship for him. We’re all wanting to stay together but we’re just looking for sponsorship. We’ve got some really good things going on but we’ve got to get them finalized. … I think you’ll see General Mills back next year.

It appears that Bowyer is/was a candidate for Red Bull Racing’s No. 4 Toyota. That team may not be around next season, but it was reported that he was being considered for that ride.

While on probation, Busch had an altercation with Richard Childress, owner of Harvick’s No. 29 Sprint Cup Chevy, over a post-race incident with Richard Childress Racing’s Camping World Truck Series driver Joey Coulter. Busch bumped Coulter’s truck on the cool-down lap — a bump he would later call congratulatory.

Childress apparently didn’t like this and was still hot over the fact that Busch turned Harvick’s empty car into the pit road wall after the Showtime Southern 500. He may have also blamed Busch for an incident with Harvick that resulted in Clint Bowyer (another RCR driver) getting spun into the inside wall at Darlington.

Rumor has it that Childress said, after Darlington, that if Busch touched any more of his equipment, Busch would get a “whuppin.”

The incident did not violate Busch’s probation, as Busch did not fight back.

A week later, during the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway, Harvick played with Busch on-track, blocking him, running him down to the inside wall, and bump-drafting him down the frontstretch.

NASCAR issued a warning to both drivers. Busch said he wasn’t fighting Harvick, and Harvick said he wanted Busch to know he has one coming.

Being that the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway is the first race since the two drivers came off of probation, there is speculation that we could see some retaliation from Harvick. I doubt that Harvick will do anything to Busch this weekend.

We may see more of what we saw at Pocono, with Harvick racing Busch harder than he normally would. But, I doubt we’ll see Harvick wreck Busch the week after probation. Harvick seems more clever than that.

I think Harvick will wait either until it matters (say, in the Chase or closer to the Chase) or until it has been forgotten about.

I don’t think we’ll see Busch mess with Harvick because Busch probably doesn’t want to lose any more championship points. Busch knows how valuable points are, and he just lost six when his team was penalized for Poconos infractions. So, gaining points has to be the most important thing on his mind.

Transmission Troubles

Transmissions seemed to be a problem for many teams Sunday.  Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose all had transmission issues during the race.

Stewart voiced his opinion during the race when he lost his third gear.  “I want to thank NASCAR for having us shift about 100 times”, Stewart said.  NASCAR allowed new gear ratios at Pocono that gave drivers more shifting options.  The increased shifting took a heavy toll on equipment, causing parts to break.

Harvick vs. Busch

The Kevin Harvick vs. Kyle Busch boxing match has been going on for weeks now.  Even more so after the off-track altercation between Harvick’s car owner Richard Childress and Kyle Busch.

On lap 17 of Sunday’s race, Busch attempted to pass Harvick. Harvick blocked him, running him down to the inside wall on the frontstretch.  Later, Harvick bump-drafted Busch down the frontstretch after Busch passed him. This battle carried on throughout the early part of the race.

NASCAR sent out a warning to the drivers to “Race the track, not each other.”  Busch said, “It’s not my fight.  He’s trying to turn it on me.”  Harvick said, “He knows he’s got one coming.  I just want him to think about it.”

Who’s side am I on?  Neither.  I think Richard Childress had the right idea of letting his fist do the talking.  In my opinion, NASCAR needs to have an off-track boxing ring so drivers can release their fustrations after the race.  That probably wouldn’t go over very well with NASCAR President Mike Helton though.

Hot Streaks

I feel like I am repeating myself every week when I talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr.  His team seems to gain more ground each week.  His team has such great chemistry, and is itching to get a win.

Earnhardt Jr started the race in 21st place and finished in sixth place.  The only thing the No. 88 team needs to work on now is qualifying.  If the team could start the race in a better position, he wouldn’t have to work so hard and long to get to the front of the pack — they also wouldn’t need to rely on pit strategy.

A win is right around the corner for this team.  In the meantime, it’s great to see that No. 88 car running in the top 10 every week, especially at tracks that have not been statistically good tracks for him.

It’s no secret that Kevin Harvick is unstoppable this season.  He sits solidly fourth in points, just eleven points behind leader Carl Edwards.  I think his off-track incident with Busch has overshadowed how well he has done this season.  With three wins so far this season, Harvick has proven he has his game face on.  I believe if anyone wants to win the title of the 2011 Sprint Cup Champion, they are going to have to beat Harvick to do it.

Jeff Gordon took home the win for the 5 Hour Energy 500, his second win this season.  This may lock in his position for the Sprint Cup Chase, because he is in top 20 in points and has two wins this year.  The victory ties Jeff Gordon with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison on the all-time win list. each has 84 wins.

On May 6th, Montoya and Newman were summoned to the NASCAR hauler for a meeting. NASCAR said that meeting did not go as they had hoped it would.

Both Newman and NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp declined to comment on whether or not Newman was fined.

Busch started on the pole and led more than half of the race.  He had a nice 20-second lead over teammate Brad Keselowski.  Everyone knew that without a late-race caution, Busch would have to pit for gas.  Finally, with seven laps to go, he was forced to pit for a splash of fuel.  To make matters worse, leaving pit road, the carburetor ran dry and sputtered for the next lap while the fuel line refilled with pressure.  Busch ended his day with a 10th place finish.

Following an almost-win last week, Junior Nation is still waiting patiently for a Dale Earnhardt Jr victory.  I don’t think anyone expected Junior to finish as well as he did at Kansas.  Dale Jr started the race in 28th position and ran around 20th for most of the day.  He got loose and spun out in Turn 4, bringing out the caution on lap 154.

Just like last week, crew chief Steve Letarte made a fuel mileage gamble that allowed the team to finish second.  Junior’s fans were hoping that winner Brad Keselowski would run out of gas and finally give them the victory they’ve been waiting for. 

Unfortunately, they’ll have to keep waiting patiently for a victory, which is bound to happen soon.  Sunday’s race would make it 106 races since Dale Jr’s last victory.  Finishing second has now put Earnhardt one point out of second place in the Sprint Cup championship points.

Have At It Boys

When NASCAR said “Have at it boys”, I don’t think they were talking to the car owners.  But ”have at it” is exactly what Richard Childress did after the truck race Saturday night.   We all know that Childress is very passionate about this sport and his teams.  So when Kyle Busch ruffed up RCR Camping World Truck Series driver Joey Coulter, Childress finally had enough.

This isn’t the only time Busch has had a problem with an RCR driver.  Let’s not forget Darlington, and Busch’s incident with Kevin Harvick.

NASCAR let Richard Childress off with a $150,000 fine and probation untill the end of the year.  To me, this is just a slap on the wrist.  Did I expect more? No.  In my opinion, NASCAR knows that tempers run high in the garage and things like this will happen.  They said at the beginning of the year that they were going to let it happen.  I love it.  I think it’s good for the sport.  It makes people who don’t even watch NASCAR get into the sport and talk about it.  The more tempers the better, I say.

Congratulations to Brad Keselowski for getting his first Cup win in a Penske Racing Dodge.  Also, congratulations to Justin Allgaier who won his second Nationwide Series victory at Chicagoland Speedway.

The appeals committee upheld the 150-point penalty NASCAR issued to Richard Childress Racing after it determined during an inspection at NASCAR’s research and development center that Clint Bowyer’s race-winning Loudon Chevy exceeded NASCAR-mandated height requirements.

Richard Childress brought in an accident reconstruction expert who said that the appeals committed paid no attention to his testimony.

The team was warned of problems with the height of the rear of its cars after Bowyer’s Richmond Chevy, which he used to race his way into the Chase, was dangerously close to the height tolerance thresholds. As a result, the team was told that its New Hampshire Chevy would be tested, regardless of how it finished on the track.

The following week, Bowyer drove his Chevy to victory lane, and second in the Sprint Cup Series points. The car passed post-race inspection. And, as promised, NASCAR took the car to its R&D center for further evaluation.

The car was found to be “the width of a quarter” to high on the left rear. The team was penalized for violating Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-3 (car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications) of the NASCAR rule book.

Crew Chief Shane Wilson was fined $150,000 and suspended for the next six races and placed on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. Car chief Chad Haney was also suspended for the next six races and placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Clint Bowyer was penalized 150 driver points, dropping him from second in the standings to 12th, and Richard Childress was penalized 150 owner points.

During his media availability at Dover International Speedway, Bowyer ehemently defended his team’s integrity. He asked:

Who in their right mind, knowing that they’re going to take that car, wouldn’t have made triple sure that that thing was right before it went to the race track?

He added:

I think NASCAR has a lot of problems with a lot of cars on the racetrack being out of the box, and I think they needed to set an example.

He also said that he did not think the issue enhanced his performance.

His team argued that the height problem could have been the result of the wrecker pushing him to victory lane. That contention and several others were later questioned by Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin called Bowyer’s contention that the height issue didn’t give him an advantage “a crock.” He also indicated that RCR had been warned before and that the garage area knew that the team was having issues with pushing the limits on height.

Hamlin’s comments were made after Bowyer pointed out that Jimmie Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevy and Denny Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had to go through post-race inspection because they failed the height sticks the first time.

Richard Childress later weighed in on the matter, telling the media that he could look everyone in the garage area in the eyes because he knows the team hasn’t cheated to get where it is. He also said he could assure everyone that the cars were legal.

In upholding the penalty, however, NASCAR disagreed. In a statement, the appeals panel wrote:

Claims that the wrecker caused the infraction were negated by the telemetry from the car which did not show a sharp impact spike; by the fact that the rear template still fit snugly across the entire rear of the car; by a visual inspection of the rear of the car which showed nothing of note in the way of damage; and a visual review of the videotape of post race assistance tendered by the wrecker which appeared as relatively gentle pushing.

RCR can appeal the penalty to John Middlebrook, NASCAR’s Chief  Appellate Officer, and Childress has indicated that he plans to do so if necessary, according to SceneDaily.com.

During practice at Dover, Kevin Harvick, Bowyer’s teammate, got into it with Hamlin apparently upset with the comments made about his teammate and owner, and ultimately damaged his car. The two have since made up, they say.

Update: NASCAR’s Chief  Appellate Officer, John Middlebrook, upheld the points penalty issued by NASCAR for Clint Bowyer’s race-winning, Loudon Chevy. But, he reduced the fine from $150,000 to $100,000, and the suspensions of crew chief Shane Wilson, and car chief Chad Haney from six weeks to four.

Middlebrook said in a statement:

After reviewing all the data, presentation and factors involved, I am ruling NASCAR was correct in its decision to levy penalties. I believe that the revisions that have been made to the penalties are consistent and fair to both parties involved.

Under the deal, RCR would field two teams in the Camping World Truck Series, where Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon currently runs. RCR would also provide engines for KHI’s Nationwide cars, and RCR Cup drivers Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick would run KHI’s N’Wide cars.

Meanwhile, there is increasing speculation that Paul Menard, whose contract with Richard Petty Motorsports expires at the end of this season, would drive the fourth RCR car in the Cup series. But, team owner Richard Childress would not comment on that.

RPM currently has no drivers under contract, but Marcos Ambrose, who is leaving JTG Daugherty Racing’s No. 47, is said to be a likely candidate to drive the No. 9 car being vacated by Kasey Kahne. He is also said to be in consideration for the No. 19, as Elliott Sadler announced that he is leaving the team at season’s end.

AJ Allmendinger is also said to be listening to offers from other teams, but RPM is confident that they will have Allmendinger back in the No. 43 car next season.