It looks like Martinsville is to me what the Daytona 500 was to Dale Earnhardt. In 16 starts I still have not gotten a trophy. That was my second runner-up finish to Kevin at Martinsville, which says a lot about his talent at the track and Kevin Harvick Inc.’s (KHI) Truck Series equipment in general. I’m really proud of my team because we were not very good in practice but kept working on it and finally hit on a setup that worked at the end of the race. Our team really needed a good finish as we head to Nashville for Friday’s race – the one whose trophy is the coveted guitar.
A few years ago I had a fan come up to me in Milwaukee with an acoustic guitar. I really have few hobbies; racing is what I know, what I love and what I’m good at. I can’t play any instrument but the kazoo, so when he gave me this guitar I was flattered. This same fan brought me a guitar for three years. I kept them in a special place in my trophy room so when people came by the house I could show them everything that I have collected over the years.
Last year I kept thinking I really wanted to win the Sam Bass guitar that serves as the trophy in Nashville, so when Milwaukee came around I told the fan I really appreciated the guitars - they were beautiful and really cool - but this year I wanted to win my own. Ironically, we went on to win at Milwaukee and the next four races.
There was a week break before we went to Nashville last season. The Longhorn Moist Snuff paint scheme you see week-in and week-out on the No. 33 truck is a Sam Bass design. Sam had designed some prints for Longhorn so I was asked to swing by his gallery and sign 50 of the specialty prints for some VIPs at Longhorn. Sam showed me around his gallery and I was amazed by all the work he had done over the years and all the prints of Earnhardt and multiple drivers I have competed against.
The best part of the whole tour was Sam’s guitar collection. Although he only had a few on display, I hadn’t realized how involved he was with Gibson and their pieces. I told him I really wanted the guitar and hoped to meet him in victory lane the following weekend. In my mind I was confident we would have a good run at Nashville, but I never dreamed we would once again find victory lane for the fifth straight time.
When we got to Nashville our truck was really good, just like it had been a few weeks before in Kentucky when we went to victory lane. We qualified a solid fourth and before we knew it I was leading the race. When I took the checkered flag that night, all I can remember thinking is, “I can’t believe this.” Accepting that guitar from Sam felt like a dream. To finally get to hang that Gibson guitar in my trophy room was a real honor.
I’ve been saying the same thing for the past few years, but there is nothing truer in my mind: When I’m done with racing, my wife will spend the money and all I will have to show my grandkids and great grandkids are my trophies and places my name is written in the history books. I couldn’t believe that my name went down beside Richard Petty and Bobby Allison as only the third driver in NASCAR history to win five consecutive races. I became the first Truck Series driver to ever do it. It still gives me cold chills to say that. I am just so fortunate to be a part of the No. 33 KHI team. Kevin and DeLana give me the best team and the best equipment. We had some racing luck on our side last year, too, and were very successful.
This year we head to Nashville in a little bit of a hole. Last week’s run at Martinsville really helped us climb up in the points but we still have a long way to go. Kevin will be my teammate again this weekend and is our toughest competition. I’m excited to go back to Nashville because we learned a lot about the track last year and I learned a lot about the driving lines. I was glad NASCAR made Nashville a night race when they added it to the schedule. Driving under the lights is always exciting. It makes for good racing for the fans when the sparks fly and the trucks shine under the lights.
There are only two guitars hanging in my trophy room right now - the one I won at Nashville last year and an acoustic guitar I got for winning the pole at Memphis last year. I still have the fan’s guitars but they no longer live in my trophy room; they are in another special place. I think my Nashville guitar is getting kind of lonely so I’ll try to win her a mate this weekend as I attempt to become the first Truck Series back-to-back winner. A good finish is our goal and everything else is just a bonus.