page_title: Richard Childress Racing
section_title: Car No. 29 history
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Childress Racing / Xfinity Series / Car No. 29 history
caption_attribution_description: Jeff Burton at Bristol Motor Speeway in the Richard Childress Racing No. 29.
context_page_description: RCR Enterprises, LLC, doing business as Richard Childress Racing, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by former driver Richard Childress. In the Cup Series, the team currently fields two Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE teams: the No. 3 full-time for Austin Dillon, and the No. 8 full-time for Tyler Reddick. In the Xfinity Series, the team currently fields one Chevrolet Camaro team: the No. 21 full-time for multiple drivers including Myatt Snider, Anthony Alfredo, Kaz Grala and Earl Bamber. RCR has had at least one car successfully qualify for every Cup race since 1972, the longest such active streak, and is known for the longstanding use of the number 3 on its primary race car.
  In addition to its in-house Cup Series teams, RCR has several technical alliances and partnerships with other teams. In the MENCS, it is allied with Richard Petty Motorsports, Germain Racing, and StarCom Racing, while Kaulig Racing enjoys a technical alliance with the team in the Xfinity Series.
context_section_description: Part-time (2002–2006)
  The 29 car first appeared in 2002, with Kevin Harvick (driver of the 29 Cup Series car) running four races with sponsorship from GM Goodwrench, Action Racing Collectibles, Sonic, and Sylvania. Jim Sauter also made his final career start at the Milwaukee Mile with Rockwell Automation and Nilfisk-Advance sponsorship, racing as a teammate to his sons Jay and Johnny and against his other son Tim. The car appeared again in 2003 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Johnny Sauter driving and the PayDay sponsorship, as a thank you from Richard Childress for Sauter's help in winning the 2003 owners' championship for the 21 team. In 2004 several drivers including Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Ricky Craven, Brandon Miller and Kevin Harvick ran in the 29.
  The 29 car returned in 2005 at Bristol Motor Speedway as part of a promotion for Reese's Chocolate and Peanut Butter Lovers Cups. The promotion involved the 29 painted as the Chocolate Lovers car and the 21 painted as the Peanut Butter Lovers car. The plan was for Jeff Burton to drive the 29 while Kevin Harvick would drive the 21. Qualifying was rained out, so the entries were switched to assure that both cars would make the field (Harvick was a past champion and the No. 29 was not locked in). Burton drove the 21 while Harvick drove the 29. Harvick won the race in this car with Burton finishing second in the 21. Later in the season, Mayflower Transit came on to sponsor Burton after a seven-year relationship with him.
  On March 17, 2006, Holiday Inn announced its sponsorship of the 29 for ten races with Burton returning as its driver. The new car made its 2006 debut at Richmond. Burton finished in the top ten seven out of the ten times the car raced in 2006, including a win at Dover in June. Burton started 36th after qualifying was rained out, and passed Kurt Busch with 18 laps to go.
  Full-time (2007–2009)
  In 2007, the No. 29 went full-time and, like the No. 21 several years before, Childress set out to win the owners' championship for a second time without a full-time driver. Burton and Scott Wimmer, who had just lost a Cup Series ride due to lack of sponsorship, shared the No. 29 with Holiday Inn sponsoring. Burton won five times including the finale at Homestead and Wimmer put together several strong finishes in his time in the car, and Childress had his second Busch Series owners' championship in which no full-time driver raced for the team.
  Holiday Inn signed a multi-year extension near the end of 2007, with Scott Wimmer signing on for 23 races, and Burton filling out the rest. The new deal also brought on branding from Holiday Inn Express, which included commercials featuring Burton. Burton had two poles, but also had two DNFs and went winless in 13 starts. Wimmer, meanwhile had a pole at Bristol and 13 top 10s. This included a win at Nashville, where he went by teammate Clint Bowyer with 21 laps to go to take the victory. Wimmer left the team following the 2008 season.
  The 2009 season saw a change in driver lineup for the No. 29 team. Longtime driver Jeff Burton was joined by Cup teammate and 2008 Nationwide Series Champion Clint Bowyer, as well as up and comer Stephen Leicht. Bowyer's championship crew chief Dan Deeringhoff also moved from the No. 2 team over to the 29 for all three drivers. After seeing Burton's name on the window of the car during a photoshoot (Burton being the longest tenured in the 29), the three drivers entered into a competition between each other: whoever could score the most wins in the 17 races between February and July would have their name placed on the car for the remainder of the season, including the other drivers appearances. Burton was set to drive 7 events in the first half of the season, Bowyer in 6 events including the opener at Daytona International Speedway, and Leicht at four standalone events. The drivers did not have as much success as anticipated; Bowyer scored the team's only two wins (the 2nd races at both Daytona and Dover), Burton had 10 top 10s but only two top 5s, and Leicht had 6 top 10s in nine total starts wi
caption: The No. 29 car in 2007.
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