Kevin Harvick gets new crew chief

Harvick finished third in the driver standings this year after being one the leading Chase contenders early into the playoff, having won four races during the regular season.

However, he wasn't as consistent or effective in the last few weeks of championship contention, arriving at Homestead without a chance to fight for the title.

Shane Wilson, who has been the crew chief for the #33 car of Clint Bowyer for the past three years, will take over the same responsibilities on the #29 car of Harvick.

Gil Martin, who had been with Harvick for the past two seasons, has been named as director of team operations.

"Kevin [Harvick] came to me after the Phoenix race a couple weeks ago and asked for a change in the leadership of his team for the 2012 season," said Richard Childress. "The expectations at RCR are to win championships so the decision was made to move Shane Wilson to the No. 29 program.

"Shane did a great job for RCR in the Nationwide Series when he first got here, and built on that success the past three seasons with our No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper team, so we feel he will continue do a great job with the No. 29 team."

Wilson and Harvick worked together previously in 2006, winning the Nationwide Series title by a record margin of 824 points.

"Shane is a good friend of mine and we had a lot of success together in the NASCAR Nationwide Series," said Harvick. "He has a lot of experience now in the Sprint Cup Series and I look forward to working with him again."

RCR is set to announce further changes to its competition department in coming weeks.