“Felt Like I Was the Stepchild”- NASCAR Veteran Unmasks Kevin Harvick’s Hand Behind Bitter Richard Childress Fallout

While uncommon in NASCAR, drivers feuding with their teammates isn’t unheard of. Bill Elliott versus Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty versus David Pearson, and Rusty Wallace versus Darell Waltrip. These are a few names that come to mind when we talk about teammates not seeing eye-to-eye. In Kevin Harvick’s case, his feud with Jeff Green at Richard Childress Racing led to the latter being fired from the team.

The pair’s longstanding feud went back to the Busch Series days when they had several run-ins even before they were teammates. One would think that changed when they were on the same side, but no. An incident between the two was the final straw that led to Jeff Green’s departure, as he recounted in a conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Tempers flaring at Richmond Raceway

The stage was set, a typical night race at Richmond International Raceway, with the usual hustle and bustle of cars bumping into each other. On Lap 268, Ward Burton and Ryan Newman’s car got together, forcing Green to go into the bottom of the track to avoid what looked like an inevitable wreck. What Green didn’t know is that his teammate Kevin Harvick was already there, resulting in contact between the two and sending Jeff Green’s No. 30 into the turn-two wall, ending his race.

However, Jeff Green doesn’t blame the incident as the sole reason for his departure from Richard Childress Racing. When asked by Dale Earnhardt Jr what went wrong, the 61-year-old replied, “The whole year happened basically. Harvick took my team from the year past, from 2002. Crew chief went on, most of my guys went over there cause the 29 wasn’t running as good as the 30. I just felt like I was the stepchild. I don’t think my equipment was any different. The people surrounding is what makes the difference sometimes so it was just stuff building up in me.”

Speaking about the incident at Richmond International Raceway and its consequences, Jeff Green said, “Harvick wrecked me for third three-quarters of the way through the race and I run my mouth to Todd Berrier which is my crew chief before and it was on camera. Steve Byrnes interviewed me and I should have known better. I was more grown up than that and I understand Richard’s dealings with it. I mean I told him that I felt like I was the second team at RCR and I understand why that made his team look bad. So he got rid of me and I went home.”

In Jeff Green’s defense, there does seem to be an element of favoritism from Richard Childress in the way his two drivers were treated. For one, giving away Green’s crew chief and pit crew to Kevin Harvick, simply because the No. 29 car didn’t run as well as the No. 30 car made Jeff Green feel like a lower-priority driver, prompting him to use the words “felt like I was the stepchild”. Moreover, the incident involved both drivers, yet it was Jeff Green who lost his seat, while Kevin Harvick didn’t even receive a slap on the wrist.

That doesn’t mean Jeff Green was entirely innocent. After the incident, a visibly upset Green was seen on track yelling at his teammate, after which he paid a visit to Harvick’s pit box to have some choice words with crew chief Todd Berrier. His interview with Steve Byrnes didn’t help matters as well.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick finished sixth and refused to comment on the incident post-race. He didn’t have to either. The decision was made, and Jeff Green was fired two days later. It wasn’t the first time a driver had fallen out with Richard Childress, and wouldn’t be the last time either.

Richard Childress called his driver ‘stupid’ after a collision with a teammate

Richard Childress can be blunt when he has to. And that’s exactly what he was at Martinsville Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series last year when his two drivers, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were battling it out for a win. Both drivers were racing side-by-side on the backstretch in the final lap when they made contact, which ended up forcing Hill into the wall. This meant that Justin Allgaier ended up winning the race while Austin Hill finished 21st.

Speaking after the race, a visibly frustrated Richard Childress said, “I’ve had drivers drive for me before but nobody as stupid as Sheldon Creed. You don’t do that as a team player. What else do you want me to tell you?”

Meanwhile, Sheldon Creed’s teammate Austin Hill said, “The thing I’m more mad about is not really the shove up the racetrack, but when he parked it in the corner. I ran into the back of him and blew the radiator and then he lets (Allgaier) win the race. Like how dumb can you be?”

While the incident wasn’t the sole reason, Sheldon Creed did end up leaving Richard Childress Racing at the end of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season to join Joe Gibbs Racing. Meanwhile, Austin Dillon still has a seat in his No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, while driving part-time for the team in the NASCAR Cup Series as well.