According to Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton, his teammate Kevin Harvick has no plans to stay with RCR through the 2010 season.

Rumors and speculation that Harvick would be leaving Richard Childress Racing started mid-summer and have continued right through the season.  A popular element of discussion was the question of whether or not Harvick had asked out of his contract, which runs through 2010, to leave RCR and head for a new team.

Eventually, team owner Richard Childress and Harvick released a joint statement denying the rumor.  However, Harvick voiced his wishes to leave RCR during a TV interview last weekend at the Auto Club Speedway.

During his weekly media availability session during a rainy Thursday afternoon, Burton confirmed that the general understanding at RCR is Harvick will be out the door upon the completion of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season.

"Everybody is understanding that Kevin has a year left on his contract and he’s going to do everything in his power to do the best job for RCR," Burton said. "RCR is going to do everything in their power to do the best job for him. Clint (Bowyer) and I are going to continue to work with Kevin the same way we always have. Our teams are going to continue to work together and I think we are going to work together better actually, not because he’s leaving but because we need to. Things change. Kevin may look around eight months, 10 months from now and say you know what things have really changed here and I really think this is the place that we’re going."

The next question is not only where Harvick will go in 2010, but who will fill his seat at RCR — a team that has seen some on-track performance issues a season after all of its then three-car team found themselves in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Burton says the next year will be crucial for both RCR and Harvick so that both can find a good fit for the future.

"The reality of it is if you lose a driver the caliber of Kevin Harvick, we have to have a seat available that a Kevin Harvick caliber driver wants," Burton said. "The only way we’re going to do that is to put a race car out there that’s highly competitive and shows the people that are looking for rides that you need to come here. And by the way, as Kevin is out there looking for his next thing, it’s in his best interest for owners to be looking at him and saying 'we’ve got to have him.' So at the end of the day it’s about performance."

Harvick won the Budweiser Shootout last February but hasn't won a points-paying event since the 2007 Daytona 500, when he beat Mark Martin to the finish line by 0.020-seconds.

Two of Harvick's 11 career wins came in his debut season, including an emotional victory at Atlanta in just his third Sprint Cup Series start only three weeks after the death of his predecessor, Dale Earnhardt.

To date, Harvick has made every one of his 316 Sprint Cup Series starts with RCR.  Through 30 races this season, Harvick has only three top-five and six top-ten finishes.