by REA WHITE, Special to FOXSports.com

Still, its drivers are trying to continue to build their teams to find out more about NASCAR's new car so they can contend every week. Jeff Burton has a win and the lead in the standings. Kevin Harvick has four top-10 finishes and is fifth in the standings. Clint Bowyer, coming off a second-place finish at Phoenix, has five top-10s and is eighth.

One would think the teams would be pleased with their start, one of the strongest in the organization's history. But they are far from content. They are hungry for more.

Still, the RCR drivers recognize how far this team has come in a few short years. After winning six championships with driver Dale Earnhardt, RCR endured some tough years.

RCR finished ninth in the standings with Harvick in 2001. But after that, the group struggled, with Harvick working with a variety of teammates. He finished fifth in the standings in 2003, the organization's top effort that season. Late the next season, with the team floundering at times, Burton joined the organization and helped guide it toward more of a team approach.

Working well with Harvick, then later with Bowyer (who joined the team full time in 2006), the group moved into the top tier of Cup competition, with all three teams contending for the championship last season.

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The drivers credit Burton for a lot of that, but he points to a multitude of improvements within the organization when looking at its recent turnaround.

"He's been a huge help for me," Harvick said. "Before Jeff got there it was myself and Robby Gordon, and I don't even know who the other one was at that particular time. ... We didn't really have that elder statesman, I guess you could say. Not saying that Jeff's old, I'm just saying Jeff's been there and done that.

"Jeff is very smart, he's been around the sport and he knows about particular situations, where you need to say something, don't need to say something. For me, I always wanted to say something about everything and I have an opinion, but sometimes when you watch Jeff, it's better to let things go and approach it in a different way.

"It's a great balance for myself and Jeff and Clint because we cover all aspects of it — with Clint coming in and being green and a rookie the last couple of years, and I'm kind of in the middle, where I have both of them to lean on from the younger generation to the older generation. I'm kind of like the middle child here and have a lot to lean on, so I look at that as an advantage for myself and for Clint. I don't know what we bring for Jeff, but we do lean on him a lot."

With the team bonding and improving, RCR's drivers look to gain an edge. They enjoy the growth and consistency they've developed, but these drivers are all proven winners. Instead of contending for a top finish week to week, they'd like to be challenging for wins.

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While they are close to doing that, they hope for just a little more to push them over the top. To achieve their goals, they spent extra time in the offseason preparing for 2008.

"I just feel like we've worked hard over the offseason to pick up our game a little bit and fine-tune what we had," Bowyer said. "We definitely didn't get all three cars back in the Chase hunt already this year by sitting on the couch eating potato chips. It was due to a lot of hard work and dedication on everybody at RCR.

"We tested week in and week out, one of us. That was the busiest offseason I ever went through."

Still, the drivers are looking for a little more. While the championship is always as the big picture, RCR's drivers want to win.

One victory in the opening seven races is fine, but these drivers are hoping to pick up that victory pace as the season wears on.

That's the only downside to this opening stretch of '08.

"If I believed we had done what we could do this year and that was the best we could do, I would be telling you guys how great we are doing," Burton says. "I believe that you could be better. I believe that every team at RCR could be better.

"I believe we have three of the best crew chiefs in the business. I know we have two of the best drivers. I don't try to judge myself, but I know we have two of the best drivers, and I think ... we can be front-running teams, and if we're not doing that, we're not living up to our expectations."

Rea White is a writer for NASCAR Scene, which is published weekly, 50 weeks per year. Visit www.scenedaily.com for more information. © 2007 Street & Smith Sports Group.