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Kevin Harvick's goals for the 2001 season were simple - win the Busch Grand National Championship, run a five race Winston Cup schedule in preparation for a full Winston Cup season in 2002.
That was the plan. But all those plans changed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, when Dale Earnhardt hit the turn four wall.
Now, Harvick had to fill the drivers seat of a legend, the seat of a seven-time Winston Cup Champion. The seat of the one of the most popular drivers in the
sport.
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Harvick
greets the media during the Raybestos Rookie of the Year
press conference
(photos
by Pete McCole)
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When Harvick took over the #3 Goodwrench Chevy, no one could have expected Harvick to be able to succeed under such enormous pressure, but he did. No one could have expected him to win at the highest level of stockcar racing in the country, but he did. No one could have expected him to run 70 races, in two racing series, in one season, but he did.
And certainly no one could have expected him to do what nobody else has done before - win the Busch Grand National Championship and the Winston Cup Rookie Of The Year in the same
season, but he did.
Harvick became the 2001 Winston Cup Raybestos Rookie Of The Year after finishing 26th in the season finale at New Hampshire International Speedway on Friday. He beat out fellow Rookie Of The Year Contender Kurt Busch by 75 points. Although there was still one race left in the 2001 season, Harvick was the guest of honor at a press conference last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway, along with fellow Raybestos Rookie Of The Year contender Kurt Busch.
"It's been a great year for us, the way everything started obviously at the beginning of the year, we kind of unexpectedly found ourselves in the Rookie Of The Year race everybody at RCR has done a great job." Harvick said, "Everything from the Busch Series Championship on up to the Raybestos title in Winston Cup, it's been a great year."
Harvick had already been crowned the 2001 Busch Grand National Champion two weeks earlier at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He became the first driver to win both the Busch Grand National Championship and the Winston Cup Rookie Of The Year in the same season, running almost 70 events between the two series, as well as one Craftsman Truck Series event.
"I'm glad it's over - it's been a year of ups and downs. We sustained the highest of highs and the lowest of lows." Harvick said, "We've got that yellow stripe on the back of the Winston Cup car, so that means we were on a pretty steep learning curve and we drew at lot of media attention. We ran the season under a microscope and I think it going to make us a better team in the long run and I know it's made me a better driver just in the one year we've had to deal with it all."
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Richard
Childress was all smiles recognizing Harvick's season.
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Harvick's Busch Grand National championship is his second major driving championship, having won the Winston West Championship in 1998. Harvick had been running in the Craftsman Truck Series when he was tapped by Richard Childress as to drive the #2 AC Delco Chevrolet in the Busch Grand National Series for the 2000 season. He scored three victories on is way to winning Rookie Of The Year honors after finishing 3rd in the 2000 Busch Grand National points standings.
It had been planned for Harvick to possibly succeed Dale Earnhardt in the #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet once Earnhardt retired, and he was to run five races for RCR in the #30 AOL Chevrolet in 2001.
Earnhardt's tragic death in the 2001 Daytona 500 changed all that. Harvick took over the driver's seat of the newly re-numbered #29 Goodwrench Chevrolet at the second race of the season at Rockingham.
It was just what the Goodwrench team needed to help them regroup after Earnhardt's death.
"Having Kevin there to fill in the this circumstance we all were put in, in such a difficult situation, and then for him and the race team to come back and perform like they did was an unbelievable year." Said team owner Richard Childress, ""It just shows the strength of the race team and shows what Kevin Harvick is made of."
"There's not many people that can be put into that kind of situation and be able to come back and run that amount of miles and races and win the Busch Championship and come then back and accomplish the things he has in Winston Cup this year and I think it says a lot for Kevin Harvick."
"We went into the year trying to run for the Busch Series Championship and obviously everything happened at Daytona and kind of turned our world upside down." Harvick said, "Everybody at RCR kind of re-grouped and really put our heads together and just took the ball and ran with it. We did what we could and it's been a great year"
Harvick got the hang of things quick, winning his first race at Atlanta in only his third career Winston Cup start. It marked just the fifth time that a driver won in his third career Winston Cup start. He followed that up with a win in the inaugural race at Chicagoland Speedway in July.
With Harvick taking over driving duties in the Winston Cup Series, the team decided not to change their plans for the 2001 Busch Grand National series, choosing instead for Harvick to run a full season in both Winston Cup and Busch Grand National series. Because to two series run in different parts of the country on some weekends, by mid-season, some wondered if Harvick was pushing himself past his limits.
"We really didn't know what to expect, we didn't know if we'd make it through July with all the flying back and forth or what the deal may be." Harvick said, "We just kept going week to week and everything went really well. It's been something that no one else has never done and probably won't be done again."
Several on-track incidents, which resulted in off-track confrontations, led to many hard feelings among his fellow competitors. Some wondered if trying to fill Dale Earnhardt's shoes was the reason behind his rough driving style - as if the heart of the black #3 was really in control of the white #29.
At the Winston Cup event at Martinsville in October, Harvick was involved in an incident with driver Bobby Hamilton while battling for the lead.
"The problem here is you got a young kid with a lot of talent." Hamilton said after the race. "He's trying to fill Dale Earnhardt's shoes and he wouldn't make a scab on Earnhardt's butt right now."
Harvick was also involved in an incident with Ricky Rudd at Richmond in September, also in a battle for the lead.
"You race each other and you use a little class about it," Rudd said, "or you can kind of be like a bull in a china closet and just run over people. He chooses to do the second."
Even teammate Jeff Green has had his share of run-ins with Harvick. Although teammates in the Winston Cup series, they were fierce competitors in the Busch Series this past year.
"Anybody can turn somebody sideways to pass them," said Green following an incident at Bristol earlier in the year. "He's done it that way all year. He's my teammate on Sunday but I don't like him"
Even Harvick admits he still needs to learn the finer points of diplomacy on and off the track.
"There have been situations where I probably needed to be quiet and just approach things a little bit different." Harvick said. "But there are situation where you need to conduct yourself a little bit better and be a little more professional when you get in a situation."
"Front the beginning of the year to the middle of the year to the end of the year, I've grown up as a person off the race track, but I'm still going to be that vocal guy that voices my opinions. This isn't football, this isn't basketball, you don't get out of the racecar and go to the locker room to cool off."
Despite running one less race, he still finished 9th in the 2001 Winston Cup standings, ahead of some drivers who competed in every race.
Harvick's goal for the 2002 Winston Cup season is simple as well - win the Winston Cup Championship.
"Our goal next year is to win the championship, that's the reason we cut our Busch schedule back to just a couple of races." Harvick said, "We're going to go in full tilt and do everything we can to put ourselves in contention and just try and be there went it comes down to November next year and do everything we can to try to win a (Winston Cup) championship."
"Everybody from Richard (Childress) and everyone from RCR has been behind us 100% all the way. We're looking forward to going back next year hopefully compete for a Winston Cup title."
With the season now over, Harvick can finally pause for a moment and enjoy his success.
"I had a chance this past week to sit back and really think about what we did this year, we ran 70 races, one (Craftsman) truck race, the rest of the 69 races were in the top two levels of racing in the country. It's been quite an accomplishment, not only for myself but for everyone that's been involved in it it's just been a phenomenal year and its says a lot for Richard Childress."
This past season has given Harvick valuable experience, not just in stockcar racing, but in life as well.
"If there's one thing I've learned from this year - it's that life can change at any given time to anybody. You take the icon of our sport and he's gone, just with the snap of a finger. I'm still the gung-ho guy and just go at it, but you kind of step back after you realize it can happen to anybody and no one is invincible."
"It really kind of opens your eyes, and from the way the year started off to where we are now, there's been a lot of things, not only to NASCAR itself but our country, and all of us as people."
"It's been a strange year, but its been a year that's made our country closer together and our families closer together and I think this year may have made us better people."
The author can be contacted petem@autoracing1.com
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