Harvick cherishes long-awaited Earnhardt tribute

Sunday, 25 February 2018


By Kelly Crandall / Image by Cantrell/LAT


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Kevin Harvick had waited for 17 years.

Upon grabbing his first win at Atlanta Motor Speedway since 2001 on Sunday night, Harvick thanked his No. 4 team for a dominant car. Then he said over the Stewart-Haas Racing team radio that he had something to do.

On the frontstretch, Harvick did a celebratory burnout and then drove to the end of pit road, turned his car in the opposite direction and drove alongside the grandstands with three fingers out the window.

Just as he had done in '01 when he took over for Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing and took a grieving team to victory lane at the same track.


In 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5WZ-AeHwD8
includes victory lane interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGz63HaDwgY
Harvick pays tribute to Dale Sr. after Atlanta victory

 

When Dale Earnhardt passed away and Kevin Harvick took over Earnhardts number 3 car,
17 years ago.......they changed the number and Harvick was winless for 17 years.

A tradition started, that for the start of every NASCAR race,
the entire stands stood for the first 3 laps and held up 3 fingers.

That tradition lasted for 3 years.

Many stock car race winners on all types of tracks, after their victory burnout,
the race winner drove backwards around the track holding up 3 fingers to the fans.

When Dale Earnhardt passed away and Kevin Harvick took over Earnhardts number 3 car, 17 years ago.......they changed the number and Harvick was winless for 17 years.

Kevin Harvick has finally got his chance to use a victory lap to honor Dale Earnhardt.

I think the racers among us would understand.
-------------
-Senor Honda

 

[h=2]Harvick gains redemption with Atlanta win[/h] Sunday, 25 February 2018


Mike Hembree, USA Today / Image by L. Miller/LAT


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How Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway played out:

WINNER: This time Kevin Harvick held onto the lead, Mother Nature held off the rain and Harvick went on to take the checkered flag, his first victory at the track since his very first NASCAR Cup Series season in 2001. Harvick, in the No. 4 Ford, maintained the lead after pit stops following a caution with 28 laps to go to pit, and held off the No. 2 Ford of Brad Keselowski, the 2017 winner. Clint Bowyer gave Fords a sweep of the top three spots, and Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 Toyota, finished fourth. Last season Harvick led for 292 of 325 laps before surrendering the lead late in the race due to a pit road speeding penalty. He finished ninth. Sunday's race started 2½ hours late due to a wet track.


"To be able to do that and pay tribute to Dale was cool, been waiting a long time to do that," Harvick said. "We've had so many days we could have done that. It's good to be back in victory lane. Finally. It took a while."
Harvick led 173 of 325 laps Sunday one day after leading 141 of 163 laps to win the Xfinity Series race.



"It was great getting into this racecar and knowing that everybody knew they needed to beat our car," Harvick continued. "This is a great start to getting ourselves into the playoffs. We overcame a lot of things today and had a late race restart that we drove off and won the race with.
"Things seemed to haunt us here for a long time. The cool thing was trying to replicate that first win. "


Last season, Harvick led for 292 of 325 laps before surrendering the lead late in the race due to a pit road speeding penalty and finishing ninth. Harvick had led 911 laps in in the past five years in Atlanta Cup races but couldn't reach victory lane until Sunday.
Clint Bowyer gave Fords a sweep of the top three spots, while Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., driving Toyotas, rounded out the top five.

SMOKE, CRASH — Trevor Bayne's engine blew with 28 laps to go, creating a huge plume of smoke behind him. As the caution flag flew, Bubba Wallace, his vision hampered, slammed into the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s car, causing significant damage to the left front of Wallace's Chevrolet.



STRATEGY VS. STRATEGY — The final segment of the race developed into a tussle of strategies as the teams of Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano ran on a different pit-stop sequence than the other leaders, attempting to use one less stop to give them a shot at beating faster cars.


AN OVAL FOR THE BLUE OVAL — Ford teams showed strength at AMS as Chevrolets struggled in the first non-restrictor plate outing for the new Camaro model. Ford teams won the race’s first two stages and led 144 of the first 170 laps. Chevrolet led 17 and Toyota nine during that stretch.
WATCHING THE SKIES — Rain in the track area threatened to end the race early with about 100 laps to go as Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch wrestled for the lead. Crew chiefs puzzled over when to pit as they watched the weather.


STAGE TWO TO KESELOWSKI — Keselowski outran Kurt Busch to win the second stage on lap 170. Following were Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Harvick.


JOHNSON STRUGGLES — The first month of the season continues to be challenging for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson. He slid through the second turn on lap 160 to produce the race’s third caution. His Chevrolet was off the pace during the race’s first stage, and he was lapped by leader Harvick on lap 83.


PIT PROBLEMS — Harvick pitted twice during the caution that ended the first stage. A pit gun failed during the first stop. He dropped from the lead to 19th place but methodically moved through the field to regain first.


HARVICK STAGE ONE WINNER — Harvick dominated the first stage of the race, leading 64 laps and finishing 6.5 seconds in front of second-place Clint Bowyer. Also in the top five were Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola.


A LATE START — Morning rain delayed the start of the race by two hours and 30 minutes. Track drying allowed the green flag to fall about 3:30 p.m. (ET). The race originally was scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, but that time was moved to 1 p.m. because of Sunday’s forecast of wet weather.

 

From 2001: listen to the crowd........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YKtLgKG3s0

 

Harvick: 'We need to get back to where everybody can go drink a beer together and have a good time'

Thursday, 01 March 2018


Kelly Crandall / Images by Jarrett, Thacker/LAT



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He may be a champion in two of NASCAR's top series. He might also have over 600 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts with 38 career wins. And he might be at the beginning of his 18th full season at the sport's highest level. But Kevin Harvick still loves the sport's challenges, and feels the need to give something back.

"I think you have to find something on a weekly basis to keep yourself enthused," Harvick said after his win last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "For me, right now the sport is what enthuses me and is very intriguing to me, because there's a lot of things that need some help and guidance."

Younger drivers, for example. Harvick knows there is so much for a driver to learn, and he's even discussed with fellow Cup champion and veteran Jimmie Johnson that there needs to be someone to explain how things work, show them the ropes of racing in the NASCAR big leagues.
"That to me is fun," said Harvick. "You want to go beat them on the racetrack still; it's not anything about that. But we need to get back to where everybody can go drink a beer together and have a good time. I walk in the garage and we try to do as many things as we can for the officials and people in NASCAR, just because it feels like everybody has kind of forgotten exactly how much fun this is and how lucky we are to walk into this garage on a weekly basis or to sit in that car on a weekly basis and drive racecars around in circles."

 

Harvick, Johnson as well as Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurray are some of the oldest drivers in the Cup Series garage at 40 or over. Harvick and Johnson are both 42 and have been competing in the Cup Series since 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Many of the drivers in NASCAR's youth movement are 25 years old or younger. Among those in the Cup Series this year are Kyle Larson (25), Ryan Blaney (24), Darrell Wallace Jr. (24), Alex Bowman (24), Chase Elliott (22), Erik Jones (21), and William Byron (20).
Harvick has faced plenty of challenges since being thrown into the fire inheriting Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s ride and team. In recent years there has been his move to Stewart-Haas Racing (2014) and the organization's switch to Ford (2017).
"For me, I've just got a much better appreciation of how cool it is to sit in that racecar and really enjoy the things that I do," Harvick continued. "I want to spread that to the rest of them, because it's not all sponsors and politics and business and all the things that you think it all is right now.
"It's fun. Everything we did to get to this point is fun, and I want to make sure that everybody hears me talk about how fun this is and realize – and maybe spark some interest in somebody in the garage or working on the car or driving a car – that we're lucky to do what we do, so you'd better enjoy it because it might not be here tomorrow."

 

[h=2]100-win mark in Harvick's sights[/h] Friday, 02 March 2018


Kelly Crandall / Images by Kinrade, Thacker/LAT


After a dominant weekend in Atlanta, Kevin Harvick will join an elite club with his next checkered flag.

As a reminder, Harvick won both the Xfinity and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races a week ago. Those pair of wins put him at 99 across all three NASCAR national series. Should Harvick find his way to victory lane in Sunday's Pennzoil 400, he would become just the fourth driver to crack that triple digit club.
Sitting ahead of Harvick is David Pearson, who has 106 career wins. Pearson won an impressive 105 in the Cup Series and has a lone win in what is now the Xfinity Series.
Second on the list of Kyle Busch. Busch has been a force throughout his NASCAR career, with his 183 wins coming through 43 in Cup, 91 Xfinity Series wins and 49 Truck Series victories.
Of course, the standard was set by Richard Petty, who sits atop the wins column with 200 victories.
Harvick is not entered in this weekend's Xfinity Series race and admitted Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway he had not been keeping count of his growing wins total. In fact, his sitting on the doorstep of 100 wins was only brought up this past week.
"Now that I know, it would be pretty cool to break 100," Harvick said. "I think that for me, it's just a reminder that you have been here for a long time and fortunate to have a fair amount of success in all three series. It's a fun stat.

"Coming to Stewart-Haas Racing [in 2014], it re-energized me and enthused me about everything that is going on. It's definitely not a bad stat. Definitely something that's kind of fun to see."

Harvick's breakdown of wins is 38 in the Cup Series, 47 in the Xfinity Series and 14 in the Truck Series.
For the record, Busch has more chances to add to his total this weekend: Kyle is running in all three races at Las Vegas.
"This day and age is different than the old day and age. People will have that argument forever," Busch said of the milestone. "I don't think there is a comparison to that. I think for what Harvick and myself have been able to do with the amount of wins that we have in all three series is cool. I think if you reach 100 – I mean, that's a big number to reach in this sport [with] how difficult it is to win races these days, whether it's Cup, Xfinity or Truck. You look at it last weekend – it seems to be easy and you have a pit stop problem and you don't win.
"Harvick, I think he's got just four or five less Cup wins than me and he's a few behind on the Xfinity side. Over the course of the last few years, we've been really good at racking them up over there and the Truck side, too. But he's obviously reaching that 100 mark and I think that that should be something to be proud of. I know I'm focused on me and being able to continue my climb and getting to the next wins that I can."