Happy Harvick Not So Happy?
ByTim Tuttle at SI.com, citing "multiple sources", is reporting that Kevin Harvick is asking out of his contract with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) after this season. Harvick has another year remaining on the contract, but according to the report he is looking to move over to Stewart-Haas Racing, perhaps taking sponsor Shell/Pennzoil with him.
RCR has had a poor season so far in 2009 and Harvick is mired back in 25th in the point standings, pretty much putting him out of contention for the championship. Meanwhile Tony Stewart has had a remarkable season with his new team, posting fifteen Top-10s and two wins. Stewart leads the driver standings by 175 points over Jeff Gordon. The NASCAR Sprint Cup season passed the halfway point after Sunday's race at Chicagoland.
Harvick stepped into the RCR #29 team after Dale Earnhardt was fatally injured at Daytona in 2001. The team changed numbers from 3 to 29 out of respect for Earnhardt. In just his third start for the team, Harvick posted his first win in a photo finish at the Atlanta race in March.
Harvick has not won a Sprint Cup race since the 2007 Daytona 500.
2 Comments
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Can you blame Kevin? he is a thoroughbred racer, he is a winner, Childress has been lagging behind for years, the best thing he had was Dale Earnhardt and he is still running on that foundation. Kevin wants to be on a winning team as would any driver, if Childress wants to keep his talent, he needs to modernize or purchase his motors from Hendrick. The whole Childress team is running poorly, even Earnhardt had subpar equipment, some of which may have actually contributed to his death. Kevin is destined to be great but time is getting short, he will soon want to have his own team anyway and he and Delana will want to have a child. Childress has a goldmine of drivers, but he is not giving them good pieces to show case. I wish both Rick and Kevin much luck. I am a friend of the Harvick family, ive known Kevin for nearly 20 years and his dad Mike was helpful in my own lackluster race career (my lousy driving).
Rick should allow kevin to keep his number should he opt out. Rick if your reading this, Kevin is golden, give him what he needs, and Kevin, you need to get a championship, so do what you must, and quit beins nice on the track, get back to your mesa marin roots when you were the “intimidator” of Bakersfield.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Dave,
Hendrick definitely has the good motors now. I think Harvick moving over to team with Tony Stewart would be a good move for him.
Childress just keeps falling more and more behind each year.