Harvick OnLine: A Triumphant Homecoming

A Triumphant Homecoming
Fresh off Daytona win, Harvick ready to race in home state
By: David Poole

Since his dramatic last-lap pass for victory in Sunday’s Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick has been caught up in a coast-to-coast media and promotional whirlwind that has had him just about every place but home.

But while it will be next week before Harvick gets back to the new house he has built in North Carolina, his stay at California Speedway this weekend is something of a homecoming.

First, Harvick is a native of Bakersfield, and it was in this state where he established himself as a young racer and began his climb to prominence in NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series. He gets to see family and old friends whenever he comes back here to race, and this week he’ll be able to celebrate a big victory with them.

Second, when Harvick climbs back in a race car today, he’ll be doing it as the Daytona 500 champion but he’ll also begin putting that accomplishment behind him and return “home” in another way.

“I’d definitely rather be on the racetrack,” Harvick said. “When you’re in the car at the track, you can kind of get away from the rest of it.”

He’ll be on the 2-mile California Speedway track a lot this weekend, too.

Harvick will run Sunday’s Auto Club 300 in the No. 29 Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress Racing, and he’ll also compete in Friday’s Truck Series race and Saturday’s Busch Series race in entries owned by his team, Kevin Harvick Inc.

It’s a busy schedule for a guy whose feet have barely had time to touch the ground since he passed Mark Martin off the final turn to win on Sunday at Daytona.

Monday, after having his race-winning car placed on display at Daytona USA, Harvick flew to New York and appeared on David Letterman’s show Monday night. After more television time there Tuesday, he went to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. Wednesday, he traveled west and has spent the past two days doing more appearances out here.

“They’ve been very organized with everything, really making things go really smoothly,” Harvick said. “We’ve been able to rest at night and have somewhere nice to sleep, too. It has really not been much worse than being at home.”

Still, getting back to the track will return Harvick to some semblance of routine. After running the entire Busch Series schedule last year, and storming to the championship in the process, he’s not running all the races there this year. One he’s skipping is in Mexico City a week from Sunday, so after California he’ll have at least a little time off.

Before that, however, he’ll try to solve the riddle that California Speedway has been for him and his Nextel Cup team. In nine previous races here, he has not finished better than sixth and has only two top-10 finishes. He was 29th in this race a year ago and 15th later in the season...

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