Richard Childress Racing is one of NASCAR’s most iconic teams, and for good reason. However, there is a side of the man largely responsible for the team’s success that leaves every one of his competitors fearing him, and sometimes his own drivers too! That’s right, Richard Childress may have a soft father-figure-like appearance in the minds of many fans, but Kyle Busch and other drivers know that the RCR boss won’t waste any time imparting some discipline left-right whenever necessary. With that said, even one of Childress’s former star drivers, Kevin Harvick, pointed out the boss’s “cutthroat nature.”

Kevin Harvick shares insight into Richard Childress’s zero-tolerance approach to racing

While it’s true that Richard Childress Racing has a lot of competition, Kevin Harvick has always had a soft spot for the team that kick-started his glorious career. Even Kevin Harvick, the former RCR driver, helped the boss out by giving opportunities to his young talent. So when Harvick says ‘people don’t realize how wild and crazy Richard Childress is’, you best believe there’s ample reason behind that, and it didn’t appear out of thin air.

Speaking on the latest episode of FOX’s Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, the 48-year-old looked back on the 78-year-old boss’s literal hands-on approach to competition. He stated, “Richard Childress is, I mean, he loves to stir sh** up. Richard Childress, he’s gonna punch you in the mouth. And he, at the racetrack, is as intense of a dude as you’re ever going to meet at the racetrack. He is the guy that is gonna ask you to hold his watch so he can punch you in the mouth. And it is like that with everything.”

Additionally, Kevin Harvick shared that Richard Childress expected the same fire from all of his drivers, as showcasing great enthusiasm at that level was essential. For Childress, no fights were forgotten. Harvick added, “It is an eye for an eye, if somebody runs you over, he expects you to run him back over ASAP and he is going to encourage it, and if they don’t like it, they’re going to fight.”

For Richard Childress, there is nothing more important than winning, and if the drivers needed to go out of their way to upset the competition, the veteran certainly had his talent covered against retaliation. Harvick concluded, “He (Childress) was like, ‘I don’t care what you do. You go do it and we’ll take care of it.’ I think he always had your back, and everybody on that team had the same mentality.”

While Kevin Harvick was quick to point out Richard Childress’ protective nature when it came to his own drivers, even they weren’t safe from facing his wrath.

The times Richard Childress went off on his own drivers

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When Harvick pointed out that Richard Childress wasn’t afraid to “ask you to hold his watch so he can punch you in the mouth,” he was referring to the time Childress had to discipline his own future star driver, Kyle Busch. Before the infamous #8 driver made his way to RCR, he got into a heated altercation with Childress in 2011. The reason? Busch decided to push around RCR driver Joey Coulter during the cooldown lap at the Kansas Truck Series Race.

Naturally, this was rather unwarranted, and Richard Childress was having none of it. Only a few minutes after Kyle Busch pulled into the pits, the RCR boss approached Busch along with Austin Dillon. This is when Childress handed over his watch to his grandson and proceeded to punch Busch in the face for his actions! When Rowdy tried to voice his opinion, Childress wasted no time putting Busch back into a headlock, eventually resulting in a $150,000 fine for the team boss.

Unsurprisingly, that wasn’t the only time Richard Childress got into a heated moment with his driver. Only six months ago, RCR drivers Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill got into it during the Championship 4 qualifier at Martinsville. While two RCR cars would have made it through to the finale if Creed finished first and Hill got a podium, the pair’s fight for the win led to Hill wrecking and Creed finishing second. Ultimately, no RCR car made it through.

After the race, Hill was pissed off with Creed’s brake check on the main straight, which resulted in his car losing its radiator. But the man who was even more annoyed with his own driver was Richard Childress. Now that Sheldon Creed was leaving for JGR, maybe the boss held no biases. He was quoted by Eric Estepp as saying, “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?”

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After taking a look at how harsh Richard Childress can be when things aren’t working out for RCR, do you think his actions are justified?