2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Top Performances

(Austin Dillon is the first driver under 40 years old to earn the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title since 2004. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Every season since 2004, the over-40 crowd has hogged the championship spotlight in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

But in 2011, Austin Dillon changed all of that. At 21 years, six months and 22 days, Dillon became the youngest champion in the 17-year history of the series, signaling a possible changing of the guard.

Dillon was not alone in the young gun discussion, with the likes of Johnny Sauter, James Buescher and Timothy Peters all making a charge at the championship title. Throw in the addition of one of the strongest rookie classes in series history, and the series’ future looks strong.

There certainly were some outstanding performances that took place during the recently completed 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck season. The following is a look back at some of those standout performers and memorable races, as selected from discussions with the national series directors, competition department and NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications managers. Additionally, click on the following links for special audio, video and photo packages commemorating the 2011 season.

Top Drivers

Austin Dillon – No sophomore slump for Austin Dillon, who followed up his 2010 rookie campaign with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. Dillon, a native of Lewisville, N.C., at age 21 became the youngest by six years to win a title in the 17-year-old series. He’s also the first North Carolina native to wear the crown and third former top rookie to capture an overall title. Dillon, under the leadership of crew chief Danny Stockman, proved his grit to succeed in a three-way championship struggle featuring another “young gun” James Buescher and veteran Johnny Sauter. He chased down and passed Sauter, who dominated the series standings through much of the season. Dillon withstood the near miraculous comeback of Texan Buescher, who’d handicapped himself by failing to qualify for the season’s second race at Phoenix. Dillon won the pole at five venues (Daytona, Kansas, Nashville, LOR and Kentucky) this season – more than any other competitor. His victory at Chicagoland in September was especially sweet, marking the first time Dillon had won with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in the field.

Ron Hornaday Jr. (Honorable Mention) – When the first half of the season started with three finishes outside the top-25, many wrote Ron Hornaday Jr.’s winning ways off. He won at Texas Motor Speedway in June and Atlanta Motor Speedway in September. Then Hornaday captured his milestone 50th victory at Kentucky Speedway, followed with his first win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. More impressive he won in two different Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet trucks, the No. 2 and the No. 33, and won with a pair of different crew chiefs, Bruce Cook and Jeff Hensley. Hornaday became just the fourth driver to compete in at least 300 races.

Comeback Driver of the Year

Johnny Sauter – This season was one of ups and downs, dominance and frustration for Johnny Sauter and his Ohio-based team. Sauter ranked no worse than second in the standings from March through the Labor Day weekend. He took the points lead for the first time in his career following a signature victory at Martinsville Speedway where he measured a solid field that included Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. From June through August, Sauter racked up a trio of second-place finishes at Kansas, Nashville and Bristol. Mechanical issues and several penalties, however, kept the points close and allowed 21-year-old rivals Austin Dillon and James Buescher to pressure Sauter. He made an impressive comeback, winning the season ending race at Homestead and finished second to Dillon in the standings by six points.

James Buescher (Honorable Mention) – Never give up is how James Buescher – who finished third in the series standings - will remember his 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. Buescher qualified second and finished ninth in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. A week later, he wasn’t fast enough to make the field in Phoenix which dropped him to 24th in the standings. Then Buescher began what will forever be known as “the streak” in April. Beginning with a fifth-place performance in Nashville, Buescher went on a tear finishing 13 consecutive times among the top 10. He raced efficiently with calculation, letting the points pile up while rivals Johnny Sauter and Austin Dillon were hot and cold, charging forward and falling back.

Top Team

ThorSport Racing – It was a banner season for ThorSport Racing and owners Duke and Rhonda Thorson – one of the longest running teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series garage. Drivers Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton nabbed a combined three victories (Martinsville, Iowa and Homestead), four Keystone Light Pole Awards and finished second and eighth in the series standings, respectively. The Sandusky, Ohio based team not only had success on the track, but off the track as well. In August, the team officially opened their new state-of-the-art 100,000 square foot racing facility.

Kevin Harvick Inc. (Honorable Mention) – All good things must come to an end, and Kevin Harvick Inc. went out a winner in the organization’s final season – capturing the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owners’ championship in its No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado. The title was the third for what began as a single-truck, part-time operation fielded by DeLana and Kevin Harvick in 2001. KHI also won championships in 2007 and 2009, concurrent with Ron Hornaday Jr.’s third and fourth titles. KHI ended the season with an impressive combined 10 victories.

Top Breakthrough Performers

Joey Coulter – He could be considered the season’s biggest surprise, but Joey Coulter proved being consistent is the key to success for a rookie. The 21-year-old Sunoco Rookie of the Year winner had five top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, including top-five finishes in two of the final three events of the season. He finished seventh in the final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings. Coulter – along with Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon – became only the second duo in history to earn the series championship and Sunoco Rookie of the Year titles in the same season from the same organization.

Nelson Piquet Jr. (Honorable Mention) – With a rich family history in racing and an impressive five-race deal last season, Nelson Piquet Jr. had everyone’s attention from the start of the season. The Brazilian native finished second at Nashville in only his 10th series start. He scored six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, including two fourth-place finishes in the final two races of the season. Despite battling streaks of bad luck, Piquet rebounded to climb his way back into the top-10 NASCAR Camping World Truck standings.

Top Races

Fast Five 225 at Chicagoland Speedway (Sept. 16)

One would expect a driver’s first victory to be the biggest race of his career, but his fourth? That is what Austin Dillon claimed following his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory after holding off NASCAR Sprint Cup competitors Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Harvick dominated the 150-lap event leading a race-high 99 laps, but a vibration forced a four tire stop late in the race resulting in a second- place finish. The victory moved Dillon within three points of the championship lead with seven races remaining in the 2011 season.

AAA Insurance 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway (July 29)

Spins are anticipated – if not expected – at Lucas Oil Raceway. However, recovering from them is a different story. What appeared to be a disappointing turn of events for Timothy Peters at the midway point of the event proved to be a blessing in disguise. A flat tire caused Peters to spin forcing him to pit for service out of sequence. The unscheduled pit stop allowed Peters to have the advantage over the competition in the final laps and chase down James Buescher – who led 97 laps – with six laps remaining to pull off the spin-to-win upset.

KHI Looking for First NCWTS Win at MIS

(Between four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champ Ron Hornaday, above, and his team owner Kevin Harvick, they have 12 starts at Michigan International Speedway with no victories. They hope to change that stat this weekend in the VFW 200. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Former Gateway International Raceway winner Ron Hornaday is currently ninth in series' points and looking to turn around an uneventful year. For the full story, check out the NCWTS Examiner story by clicking HERE.

Harvick Takes Truck Series Win at Pocono

(Kevin Harvick, winner of the final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the now-defunct Gateway International Raceway, drove his No. 2 KHI truck to the win Sunday morning at Pocono. The race was delayed due to inclement weather Saturday. Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR)

 
Thanks to fuel-saving technique and opportune late cautions, Kevin Harvick had enough gas to survive a green-white-checkered-flag finish in Sunday’s rain-delayed Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125 and win the Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway.

The victory was Harvick’s first in three starts in the series this year and the 10th of his career. Kyle Busch finished second, followed by James Buescher, points leader Johnny Sauter and Austin Dillon.

When the race went three laps beyond its scheduled distance of 50 laps, the only question was whether Harvick had enough fuel in his tank to go the extra 7.5 miles. There was no question about the quality of his ride.

“I didn’t have anything for Kevin,” said Buescher, who lost second place to Busch on Lap 46. “He was in a league of his own.”

Harvick didn’t come to the pits on Sunday, having changed tires for the last time on Lap 15 under caution for rain the day before. The race was suspended two laps later. Harvick said his truck was so strong that he didn’t want to sacrifice track position for fresh rubber.

“I think you saw the 18 (Busch) drive back up through there with tires,” Harvick said. “Tires still meant something. Our truck was just so fast that there was really no reason to give up the track position to come and get tires, since we were good on fuel.

“That’s one of the shortest races I’ve raced in a long time, and the strategy changes a little bit. You’ve got to get out there quick and try to put yourself in position quick on strategy, and you don’t have a lot of chances to make things happen if you’re off the pace.

“They (the team) just did a great job of hitting it right off the truck, and that makes life easy.”

NASCAR called the fourth caution of the race on Lap 32, after a smoking chunk of Nelson Piquet Jr.’s flat right front tire sheared off in the middle of the racing surface on the Long Pond straight.

The caution laps provided cover for those who might have been short on fuel—notably Harvick.

Nevertheless, Harvick, wary of the possibility of a green-white-checkered-flag finish, began shutting off his engine entering Turn 1 to save fuel. But a caution on Lap 37 for a wreck involving David Starr, Brendan Gaughan and Peyton Sellers necessitated the fifth caution and gave Harvick the cushion he needed to make it to the finish of the race.

On Lap 42, Sellers stalled on the access to pit road to cause the sixth caution. Harvick pulled away on the restart on Lap 46, while Busch and Buescher battled for the second position. Harvick held a comfortable advantage, when contact from Dillon’s Chevrolet sent Todd Bodine’s Toyota spinning on Lap 49 to send the race to overtime.

TRANSCRIPT: Carl Edwards Press Conference at Michigan

(Carl Edwards waves to the crowd during pre-race of last weekend's Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. He finished second behind NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader Brad Keselowski. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Earlier today, Columbia, Mo.-native and two-time Gateway International Raceway winner Carl Edwards spoke to the media at Michigan International Speedway regarding his struggles on the track, conflict resolution in racing, and who wears the firesuit in his family.

Carl Edwards is the most recent Ford driver to claim victory at Michigan International Speedway with his 2008 3M 400 win. That victory was the historic 11th owner win for Jack Roush, tying him with the Wood Brothers for the most by any car owner at MIS.  Edwards meet with the media Friday to discuss where he feels his team is headed, driver interaction, the new FR9 engine and more.

TALK ABOUT YOUR PRACTICE RUN - “We worked hard on race trim and Bob tried a couple things, then we made two qualifying runs … now we are watching it rain. I am not sure if we will get qualifying in or not, so we felt like we balanced our practice pretty well either way.” 

HOW CLOSE DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE TO REALLY BEING COMPETITIVE AND UP FRONT? “If you take the best car at each of our races, including the RPM guys, we have been very close. If you look at one individual car and look at how we’ve run through all the races, we are still pretty far off. I guess that is what we have to hope for in having all these teams to lean on, taking the best car in each race and looking at that to apply it the next time.  I am hopeful that we are close, but I can’t quite tell. Our best race was Richmond and I felt we had a top two or three car. Our team hasn’t been that fast, but our teammates have at times. I just don’t know, but I hope we are close to figure something out.” 

WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER THAT THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH DATA SIMULATION?  “I don’t know that there is ever a time where you say, ‘Oh, we discovered an issue’.  The evidence is the performance. That is where we are focusing our energy because Jack feels like that is the issue. I am not the person to say here are the procedural problems we have. What we are doing is not working as well as some of the other guys and considering we don’t have the opportunity to go test makes simulations hugely important. We’ve got that and a bunch of other things, that if they were better, we would be faster.” 

WHO WEARS THE FIRE SUIT IN YOUR FAMILY? (Laughter) “I’m wearing it.” 

“We’ve already proven we can win races … not right now we can’t, but we have in the past. I know what it is like to win more races than anybody in a season. I know what that feels like and I know we can do it, so for us the important thing is to be in the Chase.  If on Sunday we had to take a huge risk to try to win the race, or we could be guaranteed a third place finish, we would have to take the third place finish so that we can be in the Chase to try to win a championship. I don’t want those types of choices, but that is where we are at.” 

IS IT MORE IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO TRY TO WIN A RACE TO PROVE YOU GUYS CAN DO IT, OR ARE YOU MORE CONCERNED WITH TRYING TO STAY IN THE TOP-12? IF YOU WERE KEVIN HARVICK, WOULD YOU EXPECT TO GET ONE FROM JOEY LOGANO, AND IF YOU WERE JOEY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? “I am not either one of them. It is just racing. What is going on between them isn’t for me to comment on, it is between them.”

JACK SAID EARLIER THIS WEEK THAT THE NEW ENGINES ARE MARGINALLY BETTER, WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THAT? “Here is the deal, everyone at Roush Yates Engines works very hard and they are doing a very good job. It would be nice for us to have an engine that everybody else is trying to catch up to, instead of us trying to catch up to them. I think one of the things we have been trying to do is not to think of how we can catch up to everyone because that is not going to work. We have to figure out how to be the guys everyone is trying to catch. It is a lot easier when you are in that position. The new engine seems to be very reliable and makes great power. I can only hope that the future is that it will produce more power and we can run more tape and the rest of the guys will be complaining that we have too much motor.”

YOU LEFT OUT THE WORD FAST. YOU SAID POWERFUL, BUT IS THE NEW ENGINE NOT AS FAST AS IT NEEDS TO BE? “I didn’t leave out the word fast because an engine isn’t fast. It produces power so that the car can be fast. It seems to be powerful, maybe even a little bit more than our other engine.  That is a separate thing.  A lot of people come up to us and talk about how the new engine is coming and you are going to be faster, but the problem isn’t our engines. The problem is how fast the car can go through the center of the corner and the balance. The engine is a separate thing. Right now it looks like it is as good as or better than the old engine. We are all hoping that in the next couple of months that we can gain 10 or 15 horsepower. That would be great. Then we would be faster for sure, regardless of if we fix our handling problems.”

CAN YOU LOOK AHEAD FOR US TO NEW HAMPSHIRE? “I like New Hampshire. I almost won my first time there in the trucks. I have won Nationwide there, maybe two. I felt like we were going to win the race when we had the Red Sox car. I enjoy that race track. It has been one of those tracks that we have struggled with as a group. That and Phoenix have not been our strong points. I am optimistic because we ran well at Richmond and I think that some of that thinking could be good at New Hampshire. It is a little flatter, but it is smooth and has smiliar speed as Richmond. For us as a team, having Fenway Park right up the road, there is a lot of pride for us to run well there.”

DOES THE RAIN TODAY IMPACT YOUR DOUBLE-DUTY SCHEDULE? “I have no clue what my schedule is going to be. We always try to figure it out about two weeks in advance but I can’t make a decision to be honest. I was going to ride with Joey, but we go out 45th and he goes out fourth, so he said we have to figure out our own way to get there. It frustrates Angela, my assistant, because I can’t make a decision what I want to do.”

I UNDERSTAND YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF NOT TRYING TO CATCH-UP, BUT TRYING TO GET AHEAD. DO YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT WHAT OTHER TEAMS ARE DOING? “Yeah, I am not saying we aren’t trying to catch up. We are looking at other teams. If we could go copy the fastest car we would. What I am saying is that within our team, our culture, you don’t think about being as fast as the others because it won’t make you faster. A couple of years ago when Jack figured out the axle housing, that got us ahead … and that was nice. When we were that fast, we still didn’t win all the races. We won a bunch, but not all. We aren’t going to settle for being as good as everyone, we want to be better.”

“We still go testing. I don’t think we do less work than anyone. I think why we are pointing at the simulation is because that is what determines what you are going to work on once you get to the race track. It is the interface between the work and the output on the race track. That is the formula that may or may not be right, if that makes sense.”

GOING INTO THE 2010 SEASON, DID YOU HAVE ANY INKLING YOU WOULD BE IN THIS SITUATION? “Yes I did. We were worse in 2009 I think. I think we are doing better now. I thought things could be worse now I guess. When the season started I thought we might be in real trouble. Now we have three cars in the Chase, we are able to run top-10 … it’s not terrible.  I am not pleasantly surprised, but not surprised the other way either.”

WHAT WAS YOUR DEFINING MOMENT WHEN YOU SENT THE MESSAGE YOU WOULDN’T BE A DOORMAT ON THE RACE TRACK? “I don’t know if there is a defining moment. I am simple. I don’t mind confronting anybody about anything. I hope people know that if they are going to wreck me, or take advantage of me, that I am going to address that.  I hate to talk about other people’s deals. I will speak for myself and say that as a person, you have to stick up for yourself. I don’t see anyone in the garage that doesn’t stick up for themselves. I think we are all pretty clear about that stuff. I thought last weekend went just like it should have. I don’t think there was anything out of the ordinary.  It’s not my fight though. Those guys are their own guys.  It is tough. Everybody has to deal with it. I am sure you all deal with it in your business too. Everybody does it, you just don’t have cameras and everybody’s opinion interjected into it. I am sure if somebody steals your parking space, you might have some things to say that if a camera was right there, we would all be like ‘wow!’  That is just part of being a person.”

YOU MADE IT A POINT TO CONGRATULATE BRAD KESELOWSKI AFTER HIS WIN LAST WEEK, WHAT WAS THE IMPETUOUS THERE? “Brad and I had our issues, but like we have talked about a bunch, I did not mean to flip him over into a fence. I was just trying to spin him out. That is behind us … it is done. Brad and I get along just fine. Me going over to congratulate him was just me saying he had a heck of a race. I know I had him nervous a little but he kept his cool and won that race. I thought he did a good job, so I just wanted to congratulate him like I would with anybody.”

DO YOU THINK YOU GUYS SHOULD CONTINUE TO RESOLVE THINGS ON YOUR OWN, EVEN IF IT MEANS ON THE RACE TRACK? “I think we should be able to resolve things on the tracks, or in the pits, or wherever. You have to be able to tell guys that things don’t fly. I am normal. I grew up in Columbia, Missouri. If you had an issue with somebody, you go and take care of it. You can’t let it be because it won’t fix itself. What is different now is that you are on television and everybody has an opinion and it gets twisted around. That is one dimension of it. The second part is that some of the participants understand that very well and manipulate it. They don’t act like normal people and use you guys to make whatever reality they want to be. It becomes very difficult as a driver to decide what to do. You think it would be great if you could pull a guy aside and work things out. If you can’t work it out then whatever, but you can’t do that now. It is like this big mess now.”

ARE WE GETTING TO THE POINT LIKE HOCKEY WHERE THEY SETTLE THINGS WITH A FIGHT?  IS THAT WHAT IS COMING NEXT? “I don’t know what to say about that. Every situation is different and you just have to do what you have to do.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE INTENSITY RATCHETING UP EACH WEEK? “It is crazy. It is incredible really. I think it is hard for people to understand who aren’t in the cars. I heard a lot of talk this week about give and take and racing hard all the time. As a race car driver when you are in the car, there is stuff you realize like risk versus reward. Some of those restarts were just crazy. People are taking chances. I think that is a function of a couple things. The double file restart puts you in a position there to do that. Also, with the cars, it is so tough to pass that sometimes when they drop the green, guys with less to use just say ‘screw it’ and they go for it. Everybody else just gives them a wide birth and watches to see how it goes.  I can drive down in there and go three-wide and door slam someone just like the next guy. It is a tough balancing act on how hard to go on the restarts. In the end, as long as we get through without wrecking it is exciting for the fans.”

DO YOU THINK THE GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED POSSIBILITY WILL TAKE AWAY THE FUEL MILEAGE ISSUE HERE? “That is a good question. I thought about that a lot at Pocono. I guess you just have to have a brace crew chief if he is going to stretch it to the very end. It depends on what everybody else is going to do. What is going to end up happening is that the last time everybody stops, lets say there is that caution but the best guy is one lap shy, of course everyone is going to get fuel there and save for that last lap. If a caution comes out before we get to that white flag … man there are going to be a lot of things going on. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it will be different.”

TRANSCRIPT: Kevin Harvick Signs Deal to Remain at Richard Childress Racing

(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

It was announced today at Charlotte Motor Speedway that two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champ and two-time Gateway International Raceway winner (2000-2001) Kevin Harvick has signed a deal to remain at Richard Childress Racing. Previously, it was believed that Harvick would leave RCR, where he has driven his entire NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career (334 starts), but since his win at Talladega, sources began saying the 2007 Daytona 500 champ would remain with Childress.

RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER OF RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING (RCR), AND KEVIN HARVICK, DRIVER OF THE NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET, held a press conference to announce a multi-year contract extension between RCR and Harvick, and discussed various elements of their agreement. Full Transcript:

MODERATOR: "Thank you all for coming today, I am the Director of Communications for Richard Childress Racing and we have a very important announcement for the present and future of RCR. As some of you may have seen on a Twitter post or somewhere else, RCR and Kevin Harvick have agreed to a multi-year contract extension for Kevin to continue in the RCR No. 29 Chevrolet Sprint Cup Series car. As I said, multi-year agreement, no we aren't going to tell you the exact years and all of that good stuff. At this time I would like to turn it over to Richard Childress. Richard, if you would, tell the folks where things stand right now and your thoughts on Kevin continuing on now well past a decade at RCR."

CHILDRESS: "We're very excited to have Kevin back. He has written a lot of history for RCR. He stepped in the car when we lost Dale in 2001 and I don't know of any driver that could have stepped in there under the pressure and handled it the way he did. We'll always be grateful. To have him come back and re-sign again, we're excited about it. I know there will be questions about sponsors. We have three or four companies that we are dealing with right now and hopefully in the very near future, we'll have something to announce there. But the key thing is to have Kevin back. He is a top driver in this Series and to have him in our group of drivers is just unbelievable and we are glad to have him back."

MODERATOR: "Kevin, as I mentioned, it is hard to believe that your first race started at RCR at 1999, well into your second decade now. Leading in points. Obviously run very well here. Talk about what it means for you to make this announcement now moving forward looking at the championship for this year."

HARVICK: "I think for us it is great to put everything, all the questions to bed. I know I have been pretty quiet about the way we have gone about everything. I felt pretty good about the way everything has gone between Richard and myself and all the internal things that have been going on. I know it is not the way you guys would like it but the last time I didn't do things very well. I feel like we did things the right way. We've been through a lot of ups and downs and I feel like as an organization and a team.  We're positioned as well as we have ever been to race for a championship this year with Scott Miller taking over the competition role. Kent Day, ECR Engines and the chassis shop and everybody that is a part of everything that really has had a tremendous amount of restructuring since probably late summer of last year.

"It has been an incredible turn around. The attitude and the morale and the people that I have been around for a long time, those are the things that you want to work out when you have so much time and effort invested in for years and years and years. To be able to race for a championship this year was our goal and we have been able to accomplish that so far. Our goal is to race for championships every year and obviously last year we didn't do that. We felt like we've made all the right changes and hopefully we can continue going forward with the performance and things that we've done and feel really comfortable with all of that."

MODERATOR: "We will now open it up for questions."

ARE YOU AT THE POINT NOW YOU ANTICIPATE FINISHING YOUR DRIVING CAREER WITH RCR?

HARVICK: "Well, you never know how things are going to shake out but obviously I don't think the sport has created, with the time and commitment and things that it takes to be competitive, I don't see myself racing until I am 50 years old. Whether it is one more contract or two more contracts, nobody knows. But right now there are a lot of years in front of us with this one. The way that we started and hopefully we can end that way and continue that going forward."

CAN YOU JUST TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU HAVE GROWN AND HOW MUCH YOU HAVE CHANGED AND RCR HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST DECADE?

HARVICK: "It has been a lot of life experiences I guess you could say. I think when I came in I was what, 23-years old. Came in not a worry in the world. We raced a couple of ARCA races and went into the Nationwide Series and really just trying to learn what the sport was all about and got our feet on the ground the first year. Then everything happened and that was obviously something you really can't plan for. We went in and did well. Then the second year reality hit so we had to go through some changes there and really figure out what the sport was all about in 2002.

"There have been a lot of good times. We've won the Daytona 500. We've won the Brickyard. We've won the All Star Race, the Shootouts and we've won a couple of championships on the Nationwide side together. It has been a lot of things that have been great moments in my life. Unfortunately, the ones that get the most publicity are the ones that aren't so great but when you go back and you really start putting it all on paper and you really start thinking about everything that has happened and the accomplishments we've been able to achieve together, it wouldn't have been probably the way it needed to end based on everything we have been able to accomplish."

WAS THERE A SPECIFIC TIME OR EVENT THAT LED YOU AFTER A TOUGH YEAR LAST YEAR THAT LED YOU TO SAY HEY, WE PROBABLY SHOULD STAY TOGETHER? 

CHILDRESS: "We've been talking for quite awhile and just putting a lot of details together. We both knew what we wanted to do. It was a matter of just finalizing a few details. Like I say, having Kevin back in the car, we want to contend for a championship. You don't put a team together and contend for a championship overnight. It takes some time to build and build your people and personalities together and that is what Kevin is doing with his race team right now."

HARVICK: "I think for me there are a lot of things that went in to it. As we went through time, everybody knows we struggled through the middle of last year. But as we got to the end of the year last year, things had turned around. You have the whole winter to think about things to. As we went into the year, everybody came in with a great attitude, and I hope, including myself. We had talked about a lot of things that we wanted to do and the pieces started to fall into place before we even got started in Daytona. Just a lot of those moments made us strong through the winter too."

ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT THE DAY HAS COME THAT YOU HAVE RESIGNED WITH RCR? WAS THERE EVER A TIME WHERE YOU DIDN'T THINK THAT ALL THE PIECES WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO FALL IN TO PLACE?

HARVICK: "I think as you look through the middle of that (last) year, obviously, we were both frustrated. We both want the same things and sometimes we just butt heads a little bit. We talked through those situations and both realized we want to race for championships and want to win races and be competitive. That is really what it is all about is being competitive week in and week out. Sometimes similar people get frustrated and Richard and I are the same type of people. We get frustrated and want to do things the right way and I think as we went through those moments as I said a second ago, it made us stronger as we went forward and realized we both want to achieve the same goals."

WERE THERE ANY TOUGH NEGOTIATIONS OR HARD PITCHES EITHER OF YOU HAD TO MAKE TO THE OTHER OR WAS IT MUTUALLY AGREEABLE THROUGHOUT?

HARVICK: "I didn't think it was that hard. We've been through this so many times with Fred and Richard and I really got to concentrate on what I had to do on the race track. Maybe it was. Maybe those guys just did a good job of keeping me shielded from it.

CHILDRESS: "It wasn't. Once we both knew this is this the direction we're going, it just took a little time. Attorneys have to earn their money so they may change and 'I' to an 'A' or whatever they do. But that was the biggest holdup. Kevin said it the best a while ago. Both of us want the same thing. And I think with the way we're structured now, we've got a lot of good things coming the rest of the year and hopefully we'll just get better as the year goes and we want to run for that championship. I want to walk on the stage in Vegas."

YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU HANDLED IT DIFFERENTLY THIS TIME THAN THE LAST. DOES THAT MEAN TALKING LESS ABOUT IT PUBLICLY?

HARVICK:  "Well, yeah. I think 2003 was a mess. I kind of let myself get caught up in the middle of this world and the media and it's best to handle your family matters within your family and not let the outside world dictate what you want to do. It felt like it went very well as we went through it this time, and felt like we handled it professionally and how it should have been done last time."

ON THE SPONSORSHIP, THE ECONOMY LOOKS LIKE IT'S TRYING TO TURN AROUND SOME. HAVE YOU NOTICED MORE COMPANIES WILLING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT MAJOR SPONSORSHIP DEALS?  IS IT A LITTLE BIT BRIGHTER NOW?

CHILDRESS: "Yes, for sure. Our marketing department has been talking to some new companies that's not in the sport right now that have a lot of interest. Our sport, with the Hall of Fame opening, a lot of things with racing has been really great this year and the country is still in an economy downturn a little bit, but it looks like its leveling and moving in the right direction. And I think our sport is strong enough with all the people and the companies we have in it. And the companies that are looking to get into the sport today gives us bright hope."

HARVICK: "I don't think either of us would have been as willing to do everything that we're doing today without having the confidence in that side of it. I think we both feel like that there are things will move along pretty fast on that side of it."

YOU MENTIONED THAT THE PIECES SORT OF FELL INTO PLACE EVEN BEFORE YOU GOT TO DAYTONA. WITH SHELL LEAVING, DID THAT HAPPEN SO LATE IN THE GAME THAT IT WASN'T A FACTOR IN RE-SIGNING OR WERE THERE SOME HESITATIONS?

HARVICK: "To be quite honest with you, they were kind of the ones that got the whole ball rolling. So, that was just kind of the ones to really help get the ball rolling in the right direction. I don't really know what else to say past that."

CHILDRESS: "You said it. We were talking and here we are today, signing."

WHAT IMPACT, IF ANY, DOES THIS HAVE ON YOUR NATIONWIDE PROGRAM AT KHI?

HARVICK: "Well, I think that's one of the great pieces of the whole thing. I think as we go forward, my Nationwide car will have all of the ECR engines in it as it has this year. Our trucks have ECR engines in them. We'll continue forward with RCR chassis under our Nationwide car to make sure that as we move forward with the new car on the Nationwide side, it will be tremendously closer to what we currently race on Sunday. So we've made a huge effort between the two companies to make sure that those cars are prepared similarly to my Cup car to make sure that as much transfers from Saturday to Sunday. Chassis, engines, communication from the technical standpoint will be a huge piece of this; and really, as two companies working together hand-in-hand like we will going forward, makes us a lot stronger as one than it does as two separate companies."

CHILDRESS: "Yeah, and hopefully we can pretty much in the near future we've got some plans that Kevin and I are working on with both the companies and hopefully we'll be able to announce that pretty soon in the near future."

YOU'VE BEEN A STRONG TEAM OWNER YOURSELF. ARE THERE THINGS YOU LEARNED THAT WERE MISSING OVER AT RCR? DID YOU PLAY A ROLE IN HELPING THROUGH THE RESTRUCTURING?

HARVICK: "Well, I think Richard played the biggest role. Just knowing what he wanted to do with the company and what he envisioned the company to look like going forward; I would say Scott (Miller) is probably the biggest role that's going to help not only bridge that gap between myself and the crew chiefs and Richard, but Richard and the crew chiefs from a competition standpoint to a spending standpoint. There's a line that you have to draw and it's just a matter of where that line is and how you achieve that. And when you can't get to those points from a financial standpoint, where you want to achieve on the competition side, where you go get it from within your company, and what will least affect the company. Those are things that Scott is going to help the most with in knowing what we need and when we need it and kind of deciphering through each crew chief and as a team owner you know that the crew chiefs and the drivers always want what's best for them. So, in the end it's got to be what's best for the company and what makes the cars go the fastest as a whole."

HOW CRITICAL IS IT TO GO TO A SPONSOR AND BE ABLE TO SAY YOU HAVE KEVIN HARVICK SIGNED TO A MULTI-YEAR DEAL VERSUS BEING IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS?

CHILDRESS: "It's always kind of like the chicken and the egg or however that goes. I think that Kevin and I both have enough confidence in each other that we know that we can go out and we're going to put a really good package together and we've put really good packages together for companies in the past and we're going to put a great package moving forward. It's a huge plus when you can go to a company and say we have the driver, the driver has us, and we're ready to go. We're going to give you a package that will get more than your monies worth."

IN YOUR DECISION-MAKING, DID YOU EVER CONTEMPLATE BEING A DRIVER/OWNER FOR KHI?

HARVICK: "No. We've talked about this a lot before. It's not something that I have the desire to sit and make those decisions over $15 or $20 million or whatever decisions are; you've got to have too much money in this day and age to start a company. The RCR's of the world have that backbone and have already made those investments on the parts and pieces and the tools necessary to be competitive in the sport. It's not something I was really looking for as a challenge."

WHAT WAS IT YOU SAW IN KEVIN HARVICK WHEN YOU HIRED HIM ALL THOSE YEARS AGO THAT MADE YOU THINK HE WAS GOING TO BE PRETTY SPECIAL?

CHILDRESS: "I remember watching him race at IRP in that No. 75 truck. I watched him race (Ron) Hornaday at Bakersfield or wherever we were at and he was beating on him. Back then he was a young man I guess you'd say; he still is, but he was beating on one of his friends to win the race and I said yeah, I kind of like that. He's the kind of driver I like. So, I watched him a couple of more races and we went after him and once we got him, I knew he was the real deal. At Daytona we knew it when we rolled out."

Kevin Harvick Press Conference Transcript from Talladega

(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

It's been an interesting week for Kevin Harvick, a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champ and two-time Gateway International Raceway winner. It was announced that Shell/Pennzoil is not returning to Richard Childress Racing, but rather heading to Penske Racing to adorn the No. 22 Dodge that former Cup Series champ Kurt Busch will pilot starting next season. There was also a piece run in Sports Illustrated claiming Harvick had burned his bridges with Childress. "Happy" discussed these topics and more this morning during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN THIS WEEKEND? “I think we just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We ran really well at Daytona and hopefully that correlates to this particular race track. I feel good about where things have been. We have good days, and when we have bad days we turn them into good days. Everything has gone well so far and we’re looking forward to continuing that this weekend. I like the plate racing and enjoy this style of racing at this particular race track. It’s a lot of fun.”

YOUR RECORD AT DAYTONA IS QUITE A BIT BETTER THAN YOUR RECORD AT TALLADEGA. THE ODDS OF DISASTER ARE GREATER HERE, BUT WHEN YOU SAY THAT PEOPLE ARE EXCEPTIONAL PLATE RACERS IS THAT TOO SIMPLE? ARE TALLADEGA AND DAYTONA TWO DIFFERENT ANIMALS? “Usually if you’re good at one, you’re going to be good at the other. For us, we’ve finished second a lot here and we’ve always run well here. I’ve always told people when you get here you have a 50/50 shot—you’re going to have a good day or you’re going to wreck. That’s just the way it is and there is no reason to beat around the bush, it’s been like that for as long as I’ve race here. That’s just Talladega. I enjoy it and whether the records are one way or the other, we’ve always run well here and I don’t look for anything to be any different this weekend.”

YOU MADE A COMMENT ON TWITTER EARLIER THIS WEEK. YOU WROTE, “THESE MEDIA PEOPLE CRACK ME UP. THEIR THEORIES HAVE A LOT OF REALLY BAD SOURCES.” ON BEHALF OF THE MEDIA, CAN YOU CORRECT US? “Sure. If you guys are going to—most of you are this way—you line it up with credible backing to your quotes, your sources and your people. If you’re going to quote a source, quote their name. Otherwise, if they’re too chicken to give you their name, don’t put their quote in the paper. It’s that simple. Anonymous sources are crap. If you want real sources go talk to real people.”

I ASSUME YOU WERE REFERRING TO A STORY ABOUT BURNED BRIDGES. DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT WAS A CASE WHERE BRIDGES WERE BURNED, AND WHAT’S YOUR STATUS ABOUT WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO BE? “Richard Childress and myself have a great relationship, and we’ve been talking about a lot of things for several months. It’s not any different than what we would normally do at this particular time. Cars are running well, everybody is communicating well, and I don’t know what else to say other than Richard and I have had many, many, many, many, many, many, many conversations over the last several months. Where all that leads—it’s right now, I’m driving the 29 car and we’ll see. I don’t see where anything is going or this and that. I know Richard and I have had a lot of conversations over the last three months.”

KEVIN YOU SAY THAT YOU THRIVE ON CONTROVERSY. DID YOU NOTICE LAST WEEK ALL OF THE BEATING AND BANGING BOTH ON THE TRACK AND VERBALLY BETWEEN THE 24 AND 48? IF YOU NOTICED IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF A LITTLE ACTION BETWEEN THE SQUEAKY-CLEAN GUYS? “I think we’re all competitive, and I think those guys are just as competitive as all of us who are vocal about it. I don’t think that’s abnormal. I don’t think it’s the first time that those guys have been competitive with each other, and it’s not the first time that me and my teammates will be competitive with each other. I think the mutual respect comes in for your owner to not crash your cars. You do the best that you can on that particular side of it and sometimes it happens because everybody’s racing hard. From an owner’s standpoint, you want guys that want to beat their teammates but they also don’t race their teammates harder than they race anybody else. I think that’s the thing that you look for from an owners standpoint—somebody who is going to race, not only their teammates really hard, but also is going to race everybody else the same way.”

ANOTHER SUBJECT, IN A COUPLE WEEKS WE HAVE THE ALL-STAR RACE. YOU WON IT IN 2007, CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW BIG THAT WAS IN YOUR CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS, AND THAT ATMOSPHERE AND HOW FUN THAT IS AS A RACER? “Yeah, it’s a fun weekend. I look at Charlotte as probably the biggest challenge for me. It’s the race track I dislike going to the most, and for us to win the All-Star race was a huge accomplishment. It was a good weekend for us as far as speed and putting ourselves in position to win that race. The race is fun; the format is fun just because you have the pit stop for qualifying and you make a couple laps. There aren’t any points involved, so it makes it kind of a free-for-all as far as pushing every lap to the limit. It’s a fun race and it’s great for us because we get some extra track time at what I feel is our worst race track.”

CAN YOU FATHOM WHAT KASEY KAHNE HAS DONE WHERE HE DOESN’T REALLY KNOW WHAT HE’S GOING TO DO IN 2011, CAN YOU FATHOM DOING ANYTHING LIKE THAT? ALSO, PLEASE ENLIGHTEN US ON WHEN AND WHERE YOU GOT YOUR JOURNALISM DEGREE. “Yes, sir. I don’t have a journalism degree; I have a common-sense degree. I’m not going to go any further than that. I think when you have to make decisions and when you have situations that are presented to you, you have to weigh out all the options. I don’t particularly know all of the options that he had in front of him. It’s going to be a situation where I’m sure that he gets put in a good situation, whether it’s 2011 or 2012. Me, personally, I still think there are a lot of cards that haven’t fallen yet for 2011. I just find it hard to believe that 2012 will be as far out as it as it gets put, but that’s just my opinion—my journalism opinion.”

WHAT WERE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT PENNZOIL’S DECISION TO GO TO PENSKE? WERE YOU UPSET, WERE YOU ANGRY, OR DID YOU KNOW IT WAS COMING? “Yeah, I don’t have any ill-will towards anybody or anything like that. I don’t particularly agree with the way the whole situation was handled, but in this particular situation, I’m the driver and it’s not anything new to the sport. There are sponsors that come and go and things change. In this particular situation there was a lot of business-to-business that took place. It’s not anything new, and being an owner you understand that there are a lot of those decisions that take place. Other than that, it is what it is and you roll on”

WHEN THE DUST SETTLES HERE, WE START HITTING SOME TRACKS THAT ARE PRETTY RACEY. RICHMOND IS ONE OF THEM. YOU’VE WON THERE AND I THINK YOUR AVERAGE FINISH IS 9TH. WHAT IS IT ABOUT RICHMOND THAT YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO BE CONTENDING FOR THE VICTORY THERE? “It’s been a good track for us and over the past couple years it’s been good for us as well. I think last year we wrecked in the first one with a flat left-rear tire, but it’s a race track that kind of goes with everything we do—from my driving style to the cars to everything that goes with it. I enjoy racing there. You can run the top, you can run the bottom and you can run the middle. It’s a fun race track from a drivers’ standpoint because it gives you options. I think it’s just been a good place for us.”

WE COULD END A LITTLE BIT OF THE SPECULATION HERE. IT SEEMS LIKE YOU’RE NOT REALLY WORRIED ABOUT THIS, THAT YOU HAVE OPPORTUNITIES, AND THAT THERE IS NO PRESS FOR TIME. IS THAT WHAT WE’RE GETTING? YOU SEEM TO NOT REALLY BE WORRIED ABOUT IT. ARE YOU TALKING WITH GUYS LIKE TONY STEWART AS WELL AS RICHARD CHILDRESS? “Right now, we’re really just trying to focus on what we’re doing to be honest with you. I just really trying not to get in the middle of it like I have in the past. When that time comes, I don’t think there is anything pressing time-wise for anybody whether it’s the team at RCR or myself. Rightfully so, I think that’s the opportunity that we have to try to work out first. Like I said, that is where we’ve been headed over the past several months. As far as talks and things like that, I think it’s only far that we work on all that first. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”

YOU SAID SOME BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS THINGS HAPPENED BEHIND-THE-SCENES WITH THE SHELL THING. ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AN AGREEMENT WITH PENSKE AND HIS DEALERSHIPS AND TRYING TO WORK THINGS LIKE THAT OUT? “I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t know all the details of all that. Those would be great questions for Richard.”

THE LAST FEW TIMES YOU’VE COME HERE, YOU’VE SEEN CARS GOING AIRBOURNE. ARE YOU SATISFIED THAT NASCAR HAS DONE WHAT THEY CAN TO TRY TO FIX THAT? AS A DRIVER, DOES IT MENTALLY AFFECT YOU? DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF THAT WHEN YOU’RE OUT THERE? “I don’t think so. From a driver’s perspective, once you get going you don’t think about that kind of stuff. You just go in there. There’s so much going on here that you’re looking backwards to go forward, you’re two-three-four wide pretty much all day. At this particular race, you don’t think about any of that stuff until you go home during the week and you go back and watch the race and see how it all played out. If you look at what they’ve done with the cars, with the spoiler, with the new fins on the sides of the cars, and [how NASCAR was] really trying to pay attention to where the speeds needed to be at the test, and restrictor plates that they came back with. They’re obviously—that was their number one concern with the cars going upside-down. It may happen again; nobody knows. I think everybody’s done as much research as they can to do the best that they can with the cars, the scenarios that they feel like they can put the cars in at the wind tunnels, and things like that. Like I tell you guys all the time, there is nothing that you can do to simulate 43 cars on the racetrack pushing and shoving; things just happen differently than anything in a fixed environment. It’s just one of those things where you have to do the best that you can with the tools that you have to make things the best that you can and try to prevent things from happening. I feel strongly that they’ve—I think just the things that they’ve done with the cars has been really good, but the things that they’ve been trying to do to the car, just out-of-the box things that they’ve been working on, are really good as well.

“You just have to keep plugging along and they’re in the same situation that we are as far as trying to develop the cars to go faster and they’re trying to make them safer. They spend millions and millions and millions of dollars [on improving safety]. I think that’d be a great story for somebody to go in and follow NASCAR on a weekly-basis and see how much time they actually spend on it.”

YOU TALKED ABOUT WHEN YOU SHOW UP HERE, YOU’RE EITHER GOING TO HAVE A GREAT DAY OR A HORRIBLE DAY. SO WHEN YOU DRIVE THROUGH THE TUNNEL FOR THE FIRST TIME EVERY TIME YOU COME HERE, WHAT IS YOUR INITIAL THOUGHT WHEN YOU SHOW UP AT THE RACETRACK HERE? “It’s exactly that. It’s like throwing your money down on red or black, you spin the wheel and whenever it winds up it winds up. Either you walk off pissed or you walk off with a smile on your face and pocket full of money. It’s really no different. You roll through and you’re either red or black this week.”

THE NFL DRAFT IS GOING ON AND OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS WE’LL START TO LEARN THE DETAILS OF THESE CONTRACTS WITH THE BIG FOCUS BEING ON THE MONEY THAT’S ATTACHED TO THE DEAL. NASCAR TEAMS ARE A LOT QUIETER WHEN IT COMES TO THOSE KINDS OF DETAILS ON THE CONTRACT BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND THEIR DRIVERS. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS? “That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer to that one. I think it’s a much different environment. They have a lot more rules as far as luxury taxes and salary caps and things like that; here, there’s none of that. In the end, the off-track stuff is a lot like the on-track stuff. It’s very competitive and everybody is trying to take everybody’s sponsor, I guess would be the best way to put it. You don’t really want everybody to know what you’re paying your driver because it might be too low, or it might be too high. You want to keep all those things to yourself because that’s another element of the competition off the racetrack that is just like on the racetrack. You keep your driver’s salaries quiet, you keep your crew chief’s salaries quiet; everybody in the garage pretty much knows where everybody else is at. The sponsors are really good now-a-days with keeping each other in check as far as knowing how much everybody is paying each team. There is a lot of different scenarios that pop up as far bonuses and salaries and you’ll never hear anything about them unless you’re in the garage.

WOULD YOU THINK THAT ONCE SOMEBODY GETS OUT OF LINE AND IT GETS OUT, WOULD IT START A BIG THING ON NEGOTIATING AND BARGAINING AND ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF? HAVE YOU SEEN CONTRACTS BETWEEN DRIVERS AND TEAMS CHANGE SINCE YOU’VE BROKEN IN? “I think the contracts, being on the ownership side of it you see a lot of changes. The sponsors have gotten so big and with so much money there is a lot of stipulations as far as what you can do if you leave a team, not leave a team, where the sponsor can go and can’t go. It all just depends on the situations and it winds up in the lawyer’s hands more than it does in the actual driver’s and owner’s hands.”

YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING IN THE FUTURE. KNOWING THAT YOU ARE SO HEAVILY INVESTED WITH CHEVROLET IN THE NATIONWIDE AND TRUCK SERIES, NOT JUST WITH YOUR TEAM, BUT ALSO WITH BUILDING CHASSIS FOR OTHER TRUCK TEAMS. IS IT FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT NO MATTER WHERE YOU DRIVE IN THE CUP SERIES IN THE FUTURE THAT IT WOULD PROBABLY BE A CHEVROLET? “That’d be a good, fair statement.”

LAST FALL WE JUST SAW TWO CARS GET ON TOP OF EACH OTHER ALL THE WAY AROUND THE RACE TRACK. I’M CURIOUS BECAUSE NOW THAT WE HAVE THE “HAVE AT IT BOYS” THING AND YOU CAN DO THAT IF YOU WANT TO, HOW MUCH OF A TICKING TIME BOMB IS THAT FOR THE CAR IN THE REAR IN TERMS OF HOW FAST YOU’RE GOING TO HEAT UP AN ENGINE? IF GET DOWN TOWARDS THE END OF THE RACE AND TWO CARS DO MANAGE TO BREAK AWAY BY THEMSELVES, IS THAT A THREE-LAP, FOUR-LAP, FIVE-LAP—HOW FAST DOES THE GAUGE GO UP? “I did it yesterday in the Nationwide car and it’s a little bit different than a Cup car. In one lap, it was 260 degrees. That’s pretty fast. It won’t take long. I think if you’re down at the end of the race, you might be able to get three laps out of it, but I don’t know that you’ll be able to stick together that long. It’s going to happen. You’re going to see guys get pushed out there and things like that. It’s very easy here as long as you’re straight. Once you get on him, as long as you’re square up on that guy’s back bumper, you just hold it on the mat and go, baby, go.”

Is Kevin Harvick the Greatest Nationwide Driver Ever?

In 2000, when Mark Martin drove in what many thought would be his last races in what was then the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series, his 45 wins, including five that year, were thought to be unbeatable. He started racing in the series again in 2004 and has racked up three more wins in the past five years, putting the number of victories in the NNS to 48.

On Saturday, Kevin Harvick won the Nationwide race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his 35th in 239 starts, putting his win percentage at 14.6. That number is well behind Martin's percentage of 20.7 percent (48 wins in 231 starts), but as far as wins and impact on the series, Harvick has to be looked at as the driver who will finish his career as the best Nationwide driver ever.

The 2000 series' rookie of the year followed that campaign with a 2001 that may never be repeated. Tabbed to fill the seat of the late Dale Earnhardt, Harvick not only finished the Cup Series season with a top ten in that series' points and two wins while missing the season-opening Daytona 500, but won his first of two NNS titles. In 2006, he became the first driver to win the Nationwide title while also driving fulltime in the Cup Series. Since then, every Nationwide Series title has gone to a Cup Series regular (2007-Carl Edwards, 2008-Clint Bowyer, 2009-Kyle Busch).

He won both titles driving for his Cup team owner, Richard Childress, but went on to form his own team, Kevin Harvick Inc., with his wife DeLana. The team fields entries in both the Nationwide Series as well as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, where he was won two title as an owner with Ron Hornaday behind the wheel.

The Bakersfield, Calif., native has not only dominated the series with wins, top-fives (120), top-tens (168), and average finish (8.9). While he has had an impressive career in the Cup Series with 11 wins, including a victory at the Brickyard and the 2007 Daytona 500 in addition to two Budweiser Shootout wins and a win in the Sprint All-Star Race, and is currently leading the Cup Series points standings, it is the Nationwide Series that could potentially launch "Happy" Harvick into the rarified air of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.