CONCORD, N.C. -- Kevin Harvick has committed to drive for Richard Childress Racing through the remainder of his contract, which expires after next season. But it's beginning to look like he won't be at RCR after that.

Comments made on a pre-race program prior to last Sunday's event at Auto Club Speedway indicated that Harvick is ready to "turn the page" and begin a relationship with a new team beginning in 2011. The Bakersfield, Calif., native has been the competitive face of RCR since the days immediately following Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001, notching 11 wins for the organization before falling into a prolonged slump this year.

The saga has led to some contentious moments at RCR, with Harvick and Childress occasionally sparring over the radio during races. Jeff Burton, Harvick's teammate, believes the most trying times are behind them and everyone is acting in a professional manner, knowing that Harvick will be around for at least one more season.

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I think that everybody is behaving in a very professional manner, and everybody understands 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.

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-- JEFF BURTON

"I think the hard part's over," Burton said Thursday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I think going through what they went through last summer and all that makes it now easier, if that makes any sense. Sometimes you're better off going to the dentist and getting it over with. I think that everybody is behaving in a very professional manner, and everybody understands 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. RCR is going to do everything in their power to do the best job for him. Clint [Bowyer] and I are going to work with Kevin the same way we always have, and our teams are going to continue to work together. And I think we're going to work together better, actually. Not because he's leaving, just because we need to."

Reports began to surface in July that Harvick, who hasn't won at the Cup level since the 2007 Daytona 500 and has fallen to 21st in points this year, wanted out of his RCR contract a year early. A month later, after a flurry of management changes at RCR, the team announced that Harvick would remain with the organization through the length of his existing contract, which expires after the 2010 season. Harvick himself has been mostly coy on the subject, until an interview on a pre-race show prior to last weekend's event in Fontana, Calif.

"The contract goes through 2010. After that, maybe it's time to turn the page and start a new chapter for everybody," he told ESPN.

"Sometimes when you get to the end of the book, you just shut the page and go, 'Man, that was really good. I really enjoyed what I did here. It was a good book to read and it was a lot of fun to experience those situations.' But sometimes, it's best for everybody to say, 'All right, I'm going to read another book.'"

Harvick and Childress could not immediately be located for comment Thursday, as rain disrupted the schedule at the 1.5-mile speedway. Burton, who said he and Harvick maintain a good working relationship, hopes his teammate's outlook will change over time.

"Things change," Burton said. "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 we're going.' [In] his interview, he indicated that wasn't going to happen, but you never know."

If that's going to happen, it may hinge on improved results on the race track. RCR has shown some signs of life since the management change, with Harvick experiencing a slight rise in points and Bowyer recording a handful of top-10s. But the team was clearly hampered by the ban on testing at sanctioned race tracks -- "we tested a lot, and not being able to do that hurt us," Burton said -- and was slow to react to changes after placing three cars in the Chase for two years in a row.

"As things changed in the sport, we didn't change quick enough, and we're all guilty of that," Burton said. "That's not Richard's fault. Richard relies on the people who work for him to provide him with insight. The owner of the company can't always be the guy who sees what's going to happen three years from now. He has to have help from the people in the company, and we collectively didn't do a good job of that."

And if Harvick leaves? That makes improvement even more important.

"The reality is, if you lose a driver the caliber of Kevin Harvick, we have to have a seat available that a Kevin Harvick-caliber driver would want," Burton said. "And the only way we're going to do that is to put a race car out there that's highly competitive, that shows the people looking for rides that you need to come here."