Harvick OnLine: Top Story: Several Questions Await 2007 NASCAR Season

KHI Comes Full Circle
January 13, 2007
Racing One Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Things have come full circle at Kevin Harvick Inc., a phenomenon the team hopes will culminate in the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.

Call it what you may – old-home week or just former comrades-in-arms reuniting – but there’s little doubt the opportunity to meld talent with familiarity is creating unlimited potential.

Driver Ron Hornaday Jr., crew chief Rick Ren and Team Manager Rick Carelli may have come to KHI from different directions but each has been linked to the other since the beginning of the series in 1995.

Two of the trio – Hornaday and Carelli – also have a relationship with Kevin Harvick that reaches into the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series star’s teen-age years.

"Right now at KHI the people we have in place, the drivers we have and the crew chiefs we have is pretty impressive," said Carelli, whose first of four victories was shared with Ren at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1995.

Hornaday was among Harvick’s mentors when he began his NASCAR weekly racing career at the old Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif.

And, a number of years ago, Harvick’s father, Mike, was crew chief of Carelli’s late model racing team.

"I know where Kevin is with this program, Hornaday speaks for himself and you have sort of a quiet storm putting him and Rick (Ren) together," said Carelli, Hornaday’s spotter in 2006 when the driver won races at Mansfield Motorsports Park and Kentucky Speedway.

Hornaday, who finished seventh in last year’s point standings, is excited about the acquisition of Ren, a five-time winner in 2006 with Bill Davis Racing’s Johnny Benson (No. 23 Exide Battery/Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota).

"Everything changes in NASCAR racing, especially these trucks, so you have to stay on top of it," said the 48-year-old, two-time series champion. "Last year, (crew chief) Wally (Rogers) was cut thin between the Busch car and the truck and Kevin obligated himself to do the right thing.

"Kevin was down here yesterday trying to help us out and showing the interest an owner needs to know to show that he and DeLana are really gung-ho about the whole situation."

Harvick, Clint Bowyer and newcomer Cale Gale will share driving duties in a second KHI truck. Veteran Charlie Wilson, like Harvick a Bakersfield native, has been appointed crew chief of the No. 2 Chevrolet.

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