|
Kevin Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American race car driver, competing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Richard Childress, driving the #29 Goodwrench Chevrolet. He was born in Bakersfield, California. He is known for replacing the late Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt was killed in Daytona in 2001, and for his bad attitude.
Biography
Harvick started racing the way most drivers nowadays do, in carting. For ten years until around 1992, Harvick was highly successful. He raced in NASCAR's Featherlite Southwest division part-time in 1992 and until 1995, while completing high school. He became a full-time driver in 1995, becoming "Rookie of the Year" in that series that year.
He then moved up to NASCAR's Winston West division in 1997, and in 1998 became champion of that series.
In 1999, he raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, and in 2000, joined the NASCAR Busch Series, driving for Richard Childress and winning three times.
In 2001, Kevin's career was greatly accelerated, albeit under very tragic circumstances. On the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt was killed in an accident in turn four. Childress then had Harvick take over the car, renumbered to 29 from 3 and painted white instead of black. He did not disappoint.
On March 11, 2001, in Hampton, Georgia, Harvick dueled with NASCAR icon Jeff Gordon. At the end, Harvick beat Gordon by only six one-thousandths of a second, one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history since 1993, when electronic timing was installed in the cars. It was Harvick's third career start.
That year, Harvick went on to win at Chicago in July, and he won again the next year at Chicago, and won in Indianapolis in 2003, a race which is so far, behind his Atlanta win, the most famous.
However, he became known for attitude. He was involved in a fender-rubbing duel with Bobby Hamilton in Martinsville, Virginia in October of 2001, and was involved in a more serious incident in 2002.
In a Craftsman Truck race, Harvick, driving a self-owned Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck in a guest appearance, collided multiple times with Coy Gibbs(son of Washington Redskins head coach and NASCAR car owner Joe Gibbs). As a result, he was parked from the race. However, Harvick was not done expressing his anger, and he parked his truck in front of the NASCAR office trailer. As a result, he was suspended for the next race and was replaced by Kenny Wallace.
However, Harvick's anger problem has not ended, and it has shown, most notably three years in a row, from 2002-2004.
The most famous and violent incident took place in Bristol, Tennessee in a Busch Series race. Greg Biffle spun Harvick out into the turn four wall late in the race. Now, Kevin had previous problems with Biffle, and apparently, this was the last straw. Harvick angrily told FOX sports analyst Dick Berggren, "I'll be waiting for him when he comes in here."
He fulfilled his promise, charging Biffle and grabbing him by the shirt collar.
At the Chevrolet Rock & Roll 400 in Richmond, Virginia, he was spun out late in the race by Ricky Rudd while battling for second. To express his anger, Harvick confronted Rudd after the race.
Kevin and his team charged Rudd's team, and Harvick and several members of his team actually jumped on top of and damaged Rudd's #21 Ford! As a result, Harvick and six others were penalized for the incident. Harvick had to pay $10,000 for his fine and he was on probation for the rest of the year.
In 2004 in Pocono, Pennsylvania, Harvick and Matt Kenseth collided on multiple ocassions. During the last few laps, the two spun each other out, played bumper cars, and generally, weren't too happy with each other. NASCAR was not impressed. They fined both drivers.
If anything, though, Kevin showed his sense of humor as a result of this incident. The next week, during qualifying, Harvick revealed an interesting shirt under his firesuit-A Matt Kenseth t-shirt!
That year, Harvick failed to win, failed to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup playoff series, and generally did not do well as he would have liked to.
However, he remains a threat to win in NASCAR.
Interesting Facts
Harvick was the cover driver for Electronic Arts' video game "NASCAR 2005:Chase for the Cup".
He is sometimes known as "Happy Harvick" and "Harvey".
He became the first driver to win Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Winston Cup(Now Nextel Cup) and win the Busch Series title in the same year.
His first win in Atlanta in 2001 could be considered more concidential than anything: It was his 3rd race(3 was Dale Earnhardt's car number), it was the 4th race of the season, and Harvick drove car #29(Earnhardt's birthday was April 29th).
Harvick still ocassionally races in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck series.
Wins in NASCAR Winston/Nextel Cup Competition
2001
March 11, Hampton, GA, in the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500
July 15, in Joliet, IL, in the Tropicana 400
2002
July 14, in Joliet, IL, in the Tropicana 400
2003
August 3, in Speedway, IN, in the Brickyard 400
| 
