MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Richard Childress Racing announced its latest round of personnel swaps this week, and both the best and potentially worst of times were on display Friday at Martinsville Speedway.

The veteran crew chief Todd Berrier and 16-year Cup veteran driver Jeff Burton, given the option to assemble the best possible team to go after a championship in 2010, were ecstatic of their union on RCR's No. 31 Chevrolet.

“

I just feel really good about it ... he was on my A-list for crew chiefs all along.

”

JEFF BURTON

Berrier could be considered the ultimate team player, but he wouldn't deny his anticipation of working with a guy he's long respected. Burton's remarks made it obvious it's a mutual admiration society.

"Ever since I've been at Childress' I've had the opportunity to work with Todd and have gained a lot of respect for his ability and how much he cares about it and how hard he's willing to work at it," Burton said. "I just feel really good about it, because I know what his work ethic is. From day one I've always felt like he had the capability so he was on my A-list for crew chiefs all along and at the end of the day, he earned it and he was an obvious choice."

"I'm glad to do it because I think Jeff's a hard charger, he's done good at this and he wants to win a championship -- as do I," Berrier said. "But so does Casey Mears, you know what I mean? We've had a good time with Casey and I've enjoyed it a lot. We were just starting to get in sync with things and it's a shame to not be able to finish the year out with that.

"But when you look at it from [Mears' perspective], you understand that, but when you look at it as a company you understand switching the thing up and going forward through the end of the year with Burton to get ready for next year. I think it's better for us as a company and better for me long term knowing what I'm going to do next year."

Mears, who's only 22 races into a union with Berrier that in the past five weeks has finally had the consistently positive -- and competitive -- results that were expected of Mears from the beginning of the season, is distraught over losing his crew chief and most of his team. (Continued)