---
title: "NASCAR Team Owner Richard Childress Shoots At Home Invaders, Police Say"
description: "Well, that didn't go according to plan."
date: "2017-12-21"
modified: "2017-12-22"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/17160/nascar-team-owner-richard-childress-shoots-at-home-invaders-police-say"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Racing"
tags:
  - "North Carolina"
  - "racing"
  - "richard childress"
  - "robbery"
  - "Shooting"
---

# NASCAR Team Owner Richard Childress Shoots At Home Invaders, Police Say

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/12/gettyimages-621166590.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

NASCAR legend and team owner Richard Childress shot at three men who broke into his North Carolina home on Sunday night while he and his wife were upstairs, [according to the *Winston-Salem Journal.*](<https://www.journalnow.com/news/crime/davidson-county-sheriff-richard-childress-fires-shots-at-home-burglars/article_16779530-f4a5-57d0-9561-88661a79bb47.html>)

The chairman and CEO of [Richard Childress Racing](<https://www.thedrive.com/start-finish/16944/offseason-moves-generating-a-buzz-in-nascar-nation>)—not to mention a board member of the National Rifle Association—told the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office that he and his wife heard a crash and an alarm from downstairs at around 10:25 pm on Sunday. Childress grabbed his gun, ventured down to investigate, and saw three masked men in his house who all appeared to be carrying weapons. The intruders had broken a window next to a doorknob to gain access.

Childress fired several shots at the men, who all fled without taking anything. The former NASCAR driver was acting under North Carolina's Castle Doctrine, which gives people the right to use lethal force without reservation when defending their property from intruders, Sheriff David Grice [told *WFMY News.*](<https://www.wfmynews2.com/news/crime/nascar-legend-richard-childress-fires-shots-at-robbery-suspects/501159382>)

According to Sheriff Grice, Childress told him that "the only reason he and his wife were here today was because of God and the Second Amendment." Childress is also offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the three suspects.

Childress, who drove in [NASCAR](<https://www.thedrive.com/start-finish/16676/talking-shop-with-truex-jr-kenseth-busch-and-other-drivers-at-nascar-champions-week>) for a decade and later started Richard Childress Racing (which was [Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15152/dale-earnhardt-jr-is-gifted-his-fathers-car-for-final-talladega-race>) team during his glory years), reportedly owns [one of the largest houses](<https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/richard-childress-house/view/google/>) in North Carolina. We're not sure what the would-be robbers were expecting by breaking into such a massive estate, but it probably wasn't bullets in the air.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)