Childress team making most of limited chances

DARLINGTON, S.C.

Clint Bowyer wins, and few outside of family, friends and his fans notice. Jeff Burton wins, and the focus is elsewhere.

Talk in the garage is not about those two. It's about how to catch those Joe Gibbs Racing cars, what Carl Edwards' crew has done to win three races and when Hendrick Motorsports will reassert itself.

Look closer. The best team few are watching is Richard Childress Racing. While Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing leads the points heading into tonight's race at Darlington Raceway, Childress teammates are close behind. Burton is second, with Bowyer fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.

The question: Is this a mirage? Childress drivers have combined to lead 245 laps this season. Joe Gibbs Racing's fleet of Busch, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart has led five times as many laps. Hendrick Motorsports has led four times as many laps as the Childress trio. Six drivers have led more laps this year than the Childress drivers combined.

"I won't sit here and tell you today that's not an issue for us," Burton said. "It is the issue for us, the issue that we feel that we need to be better in."

Leading more laps provides more chances to win. The series champion has ranked in the top five in laps led each of the past three seasons. Only Bowyer ranks in the top 10 this season for Childress. He is eighth.

Winning has become more important with NASCAR giving 10 bonus points for each victory in the first 26 races. The bonus points are added to a driver's total before the Chase begins. Those are points the Childress teams have not had as many chances to collect.

The Childress teams have taken advantage of their limited chances to win. Burton, Bowyer and Harvick rank 1-2-3 in laps completed this year. Burton has run all 3,297 laps. Bowyer and Harvick have run all but two laps each.

In Burton's win at Bristol, he led only the final two laps, taking the lead when Hamlin slowed on a restart with a fuel pickup issue. Bowyer led only 13 laps last week at Richmond, grabbing the lead after Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Busch made contact while racing for first.

"I was fast or faster than (Bowyer) at times, and he ends up winning the race," said Greg Biffle, who finished 14th. "So being in the right place at the right time is what this business is about."

That the biggest question with Childress' team is how many laps it leads shows the progress it has made. The team combined for one Cup victory in the 2004-05 seasons, leading some to question if the sport had passed Childress by. Now the question is if this team can pass someone for the win.

"We feel like we've taken that step from where we were four years ago... now we're all wanting to take it to that next level," Harvick said. "We're consistent.

"We can luck into wins like we did last week. We're able to put ourselves in position to win if something goes wrong with those two or three cars that are on that night. That's just where we are."