Brian Scott shores up Richard Childress Racing NASCAR lineup for 2013

Look, it’s no secret about Brian Scott: Like Paul Menard and Brendan Gaughan, Scott brings sponsorship money from his family’s Shore Lodge to whatever race team he chooses.

Next year, Scott will move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing, where he’ll drive the team’s No. 2 Nationwide Series car and be teammates with the aforementioned Menard (Sprint Cup) and Gaughan (Trucks).

Clearly, RCR believes hiring drivers with financial backing is helpful to the continued existence of the organization. Within the past few years, Childress has also hired John Wes Townley, Joey Coulter and Tim George Jr. – all of whom had family money behind them.

So is that a bad thing? From a competition standpoint, perhaps it is. On the other hand, Childress would likely argue hiring those drivers keeps people at his company employed – and without sponsorship, they would have lost their jobs.

It’s a tough economy, and team owners try different things to keep the doors open. Childress uses a model of hiring drivers who come with funding attached, ensuring his organization doesn’t have to scramble for money.

The latest hire came Thursday morning with the announcement of Scott’s arrival. Scott has a “multi-year” agreement to drive for RCR, and he’ll race with crew chief Phil Gould, who was formerly the No. 2 team’s car chief. With former RCR driver Elliott Sadler going to Gibbs next season – and taking the One Main Financial sponsorship with him – the two teams essentially swapped drivers.

Sadler finished second in points in each of the last two years while Scott was eighth and ninth in points, respectively. Scott had seven DNFs this season and had a hard time staying out of trouble on the track.

Will he fare any better at RCR? Perhaps a fresh start and a change of scenery will do him well. Scott had difficulty with the challenge of succeeding in the shadow of JGR teammates who were winning every week, but his affable personality and sharp sense of humor should aid in getting a new team on his side.

If he can take advantage of his new opportunity, a top-five points finish isn’t out of the question. And if that happened? There’d be a lot less talk about Scott’s family money than there is today.