Author: Bob Pockras
Date: Dec. 6, 2014
LAS VEGAS — Kevin Harvick had a season dreams are made of.
He won five races. He won eight poles. He led 2,137 laps.
And he won a Sprint Cup title.
Harvick had that dream season after a decision that likely led to several sleepless nights, a decision that he admitted Friday night wasn’t as easy as everyone thought.
In celebrating his first top-tier racing championship at the Sprint Cup Series Awards banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas, Harvick talked about his move from Richard Childress Racing to drive for friend Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing after the 2013 season.
“I have to admit, I was scared to death,” Harvick told the crowd. “I tried to play it cool. But it was a pivotal moment in my career. I was venturing outside my comfort zone, and I had to make it work.”
His crew chief, Rodney Childers, also made a big move, from Michael Waltrip Racing to guide the Harvick team. Was he scared, too?
“No not really,” Childers said after the awards dinner.
“He’s lying,” Harvick said.
“Once we made the decision, I think both of us were pretty determined,” Childers said. “You always worry a little bit. Anytime you leave your comfort zone like he said, it is scary and something that you have to fight through.”
Harvick is used to tough situations. He had spent 13 years at RCR, taking over the ride in a heavily emotional time when Dale Earnhardt was killed in the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
“He believed in a punk kid from California enough to give me a ride,” Harvick said in his speech. “And then he had the faith to bring me to Cup during an incredibly emotional time for him, RCR and our whole sport.”
While he was third in the standings in the last four years, Harvick made the move to SHR seeking more. And he accomplished it in one year.
“None of our competitors ever gave us an inch,” said SHR co-owner Gene Haas afterward. “Everything Kevin Harvick he got, he fought for.”
It wasn’t as if Harvick stepped into a situation where the crew had been together and was already a cohesive unit.
“For a kid from Bakersfield who just wanted to race, who just wanted to live out his dream just for fun, did it as a hobby — this season has been a dream come true,” Harvick said.
It wasn’t just a hobby. Harvick earned a champion’s bonus of $4.8 million to go along with $853,000 in special awards and $7.08 million in race earnings for a season total of $12,762,411.
It was a championship season where he won three of the final five races, including a pivotal race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October.
“My mindset going into the second Charlotte race in the Chase was ‘I believe,’” Harvick said. “Like the soccer chant, I would yell ‘I believe’ and the guys (on my team) would yell that, ‘We will win.’
“Believe it or not, it worked. I sincerely hope everyone here has a chance to experience that same sense of support and belief of being part of a team. If it can happen to a kid from Bakersfield, it can happen to anyone. You just have to have a support of a team that believes in you.”
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