Harvick OnLine: Unassuming Daytona Winner, Wife Also Field Own Cars

Harvicks Are Partners In Team For Two
Unassuming Daytona Winner, Wife Also Field Own Cars
By: Bill Center

As the emerging power couple of NASCAR, Kevin and DeLana Harvick could learn a thing or two about celebrating.

After Harvick won the Daytona 500 Sunday, he and his wife retired to their motorhome at Daytona International Speedway and dined on leftover ziti.

“We're not really seeking the spotlight,” said the 31-year-old Harvick, who grew up wanting to race IndyCars like his childhood Bakersfield idol, Rick Mears.

Instead, Kevin Harvick went straight from go-karts to stock cars in his youth and visited most of the tracks in the Southwest, including Cajon Speedway.

Soon Harvick's skill as a driver became apparent. But it was his and DeLana's skill in other areas that set Harvick apart from other drivers.

“I've always enjoyed building cars and working on cars,” he said Monday.

So as his driving career took off – with a macabre twist of fate – Harvick worked on the sidelines to build his own teams in the Craftsman and Busch series with wife DeLana supplying the business acumen.

Everyone knows that Harvick's break on the premier Nextel Cup circuit came in 2001 after the death of Dale Earnhardt in that last-lap accident at Daytona. Harvick was the driver hand-picked by car owner Richard Childress to step into Earnhardt's car.

Earnhardt still casts a long shadow over the sport as well as Richard Childress Racing.

“But this win lifted the shadow,” Harvick said. “We have started a new chapter. It's still Dale's legacy. But we can be somewhere right behind it.”

After the death of Earnhardt, Harvick stunned the stock car world by winning the Busch Series title and placing ninth in the Nextel Cup standings. Last year, Harvick won his second Busch Series title while placing fourth in the Nextel Cup standings.

But in between were some tough times for Childress Racing and when Toyota courted Harvick to headline its entry into the Nextel Cup last summer, Harvick listened.

But Harvick, Childress and crew chief Todd Berrier decided to stick it out together.

“This team is pretty much the same team it was in 1999 when we were getting started in the Busch Series,” said Harvick. “We were committed to getting to the top. If that's the case, you don't want to make changes.”

But Harvick the owner has several cars in the air.

While he drives for Childress on the Nextel Cup series, Harvick divides his time on the Busch Series between cars fielded by Childress and cars co-owned by the Harvicks.

At most Busch Series races, the Harvicks field three cars – some driven by Tony Stewart, who won both the 2005 and 2006 Busch races at Daytona in a Harvick car.

Harvick cars won 10 Busch Series races last year. And Kevin tuned up for the Daytona 500 by also winning last Saturday's Busch Series opener at Daytona – becoming only the fourth driver in history to score the Saturday-Sunday double.

The Harvicks also own a team on the Craftsman Truck Series. Kevin will drive that truck tomorrow night at California Speedway as part of the annual NASCAR weekend at the two-mile Fontana oval.

While Kevin often worked under the hood of his cars and trucks when Harvick Racing was getting its start in 1999 in a garage leased from Berrier, Kevin Harvick Racing is now an independent operation.

“Most of our success with the Busch and Craftsman Truck programs is because of DeLana,” said Kevin. “She is in charge of the business and the teams. She really knows what she is doing.”

The Harvicks don't talk much about their future plans. He says there is no blueprint to jump into the Nextel Cup.

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