RCR executive explains private radio chat with Menard's crew chief during Richmond race

I ran into Mike Dillon, vice president of competition, at Richard Childress Racing in the garage Friday at Chicagoland Speedway and talked to him about his comment on Paul Menard’s radio at Richmond last weekend that has raised questions about if Menard spun on purpose. Teammate Kevin Harvick took advantage of that caution to take the lead from Jeff Gordon and go on to win the race.

NASCAR President Mike Helton said Friday that officials are investigating the matter.

Dillon could be heard telling crew chief Richard “Slugger’’ Labbe to go to another channel. A few laps later, Menard reported he thought he had a tire going down. So I asked Dillon about telling Labbe to go to channel two.

“We do that all the time,’’ Dillon said.

Told that the comment raises suspicions about what Menard did, I asked Dillon what he said in that conversation to Labbe on the other channel. “We were just talking about how bad the car was tore up. The driver didn’t need to hear all of that while we were on the radio.’’

I then asked Dillon directly if he gave an order for Menard to spin out or create a caution. Dillon said: “No. Did you all hear anything said to Paul? The one who is complaining the most (Jeff Gordon) ran third in the race. I mean, come on, he didn’t even run second. This is really stupid. I don’t understand it.  It goes on every weekend that we talk back and forth on the radio. I don’t know what to say about it.’’

Told that some people were questioning if he gave the order for Menard to create a caution to help Harvick, Dillon said: “I didn’t. I don’t have really anything to say about it. It’s kind of silly now. We’re a week behind it. I don’t know.’’

Asked why Menard was even on the track when he was about 80 laps behind the leaders, Dillon said: “We don’t ever stop. (That’s) one thing Richard (Childress) is big on.’’

If you think back, there was a time Kevin Harvick and later Clint Bowyer led the series in consecutive races running at the finish. It is something the Childress teams do take pride in. The only two times Menard has failed to finish a race this year was at Watkins Glen when a tire went down and he crashed, destroying the car, and at Martinsville when he was eliminated just past halfway because of overheating issues to his engine.

OK, I then asked Dillon why Menard would need to know the status of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon as they raced for the lead late in that race. Dillon told me: “I don’t know. You’d have to ask Paul. I guess he cares about his teammates. How about the 51 (Landon Cassill, who drives for Phoenix Racing, which gets its chassis and engines from Hendrick Motorsports) spinning out for the 88? I don’t know what to say. We’re here to race Chicago, so this is kind of stupid, to be honest with you.’’

# Reports state that Clint Bowyer is headed to Michael Waltrip Racing next year but nothing official has been announced. Michael Waltrip issued a statement on the reports, saying: “I can confirm we have had very productive conversations with Clint and a quality sponsor. Today, however, we don’t have anything finalized and we’re not in a position to make any formal announcements. Our goal has never changed. Rob (Kauffman) and I want to continue to improve the competitiveness of our team and be a consistent winner at NASCAR’s highest level. Pursuing Chase-proven personnel, including drivers, has been a priority. As soon as we have more information to share, we will.”

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