page_title: Richard Childress Racing
section_title: Car No. 31 history
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Childress Racing / Cup Series / Car No. 31 history
caption_attribution_description: English: Jeff Burton in the #31 car on pit road at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
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: Beginnings (1988–1994)
  For over a decade, car No. 31 was Childress's R&D car. It debuted in 1988 at the fall event at North Carolina Speedway, as No. 22 and Rodney Combs driving, finishing dead last. Ironically, when Bill Elliott's backup car failed during practice for the pit crew championship, Elliott drove that backup car for his No. 9 team to do the competition pit stop. The car wasn't seen again until 1993, as No. 31 and Earnhardt's longtime friend Neil Bonnett driving at Talladega Superspeedway. In this race, Bonnett, already on a comeback, was involved in a horrifying accident, but made it out okay. After driving another race in the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway as a start and park entry that year for RCR, Bonnett died testing Phoenix Racing's No. 51 Country Time Lemonade car for the 1994 Daytona 500.
  Mike Skinner (1996–2001)
  In 1996, the car returned with defending Craftsman Truck Series champion Mike Skinner driving with Realtree sponsoring the car in four of the five races it ran. Skinner had three top-ten starts that year, including one on the outside pole. The team finally ran full-time in 1997, with Skinner driving and Lowe's signing a five-year deal to sponsor the entry. The move made RCR a multi-car operation for the first time. Skinner won the pole position for both of the races at Daytona, and defeated what has turned out to be a very scant field of drivers for Rookie of the Year. He suffered some injuries in 1998, and Morgan Shepherd and Childress' son-in-law Mike Dillon filled in for him. Teamed with crew chief Larry McReynolds, 1999 was his best season ever, winning the pole position twice, and finished tenth in points after being the championship leader at one point earlier in the year. Skinner would finish 12th in points in 2000, earning his career-best finish of second at Talladega. However, Skinner was never able to win a points-paying race, although he won two exhibition races in Japan, at Suzuka and Twin Ring Motegi, respectively, as well as some other non-point events.
  Robby Gordon (2001-2004)
  For the 2001 season, McReynolds was replaced by Royce McGee. In 2001, Skinner suffered a concussion and a broken ankle in an early race crash at the inaugural race at Chicagoland in July. Robby Gordon was named his replacement in the No. 31 car. Gordon struggled heavily, missing two races and failing to post a finish better than 25th in his first four starts for the team. During this time in August, Cingular Wireless (then the sponsor of Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 01 car) was announced as the new sponsor for 2002 signing a four-year deal, with Lowe's not renewing their contract and moving to Hendrick Motorsports. Skinner returned at Bristol, but he just wasn't the same. Skinner was released from the final year of his contract in August, and left the team after Dover in September to have season-ending surgery. Gordon once again took his place at Kansas.
  At Watkins Glen, Gordon was dominating the second road course race of the season when the telemetry box in his car used by NBC Sports burst into flames, injuring a crew member and ending the No. 31's day. In spite of struggles, it was announced in November 2001 that Gordon would drive the car full-time the next year. Robby Gordon continued driving the car for the final races of 2001, DNQing twice (at Charlotte and Atlanta), and missing one race that Jeff Green drove in his place. In the rescheduled season finale at New Hampshire, Robby Gordon was engaged in a closing-laps battle with eventual champion Jeff Gordon (no relation). With 16 laps to go, leader Jeff Gordon (who ended up leading 257 of the 300 laps) was stuck behind the 12th-place No. 77 car of Robert Pressley trying to stay on the lead lap, with Robby right on his tail. In the middle of turns three and four, Robby gave a bump to Jeff Gordon while he had slowed down to try to pass the lapped car of Mike Wallace, sending him into Wallace's No. 12 car and inflicting damage on the 24 car. Jeff was black-flagged while attempting to retaliate under caution, and Robby went on to earn a controver
caption: Burton in the No. 31 at Las Vegas in 2012. Burton's final four wins came with RCR
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