Harvick still happy heading to Chicagoland

CONCORD, N.C. -- Though the current Winston Cup Series campaign has unfolded in a far different manner than Kevin Harvick had hoped, his glee is unwavering.

The most emotionally exhausting year of his life is half over and having already charted stormy waters from the Daytona 500 to the Pepsi 400, he's now bound and determined to make fools of the doubters.

	Kevin Harvick has two top-10 finishes in 16 Winston Cup starts in 2002.

"There's a lot of fair-weather people that were around us, around our group and all of a sudden things go bad and it's just amazing how people don't come around anymore," Harvick said. "I think myself, even Richard (Childress), have learned a lot from the situation.

"It hasn't been a career year in the stat books on the racetrack, but it's a career year for us personally, to know who we need around us and who we don't need around us. And that's important in this sport."

The recent crew switch that sent Robby Gordon's crew to Harvick and Harvick's boys to the Cingular outfit has proven fruitful. The chemistry is there. The hunger, too.

His 11th-place run from the pole at Daytona last week might not seem so wonderful, but considering the circumstances, it was just that.

"I was pumped about our 11th-place finish," Harvick said. "We overcame a hole in the front bumper, it probably got there from debris. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but at Daytona, where it's all aero, it's a huge deal.

"But the Goodwrench team came through, patched it until the patch worked, and we came out where we did. That kind of camaraderie gets you excited to come back every week. We're all in it together."

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Harvick hopes to continue the recent wave of momentum this weekend in the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway (2:30 ET, NBC, MRN). One year ago, Harvick surged from sixth to first in just five laps, then held the lead for the final 26 laps to snag his second career win.

"Last season I had tested a whole bunch there," Harvick said. "I expected to do well, but even when you expect to do well, a win is something that just blows you away."

To repeat and retain Windy City supremacy, Harvick must fend off several suitors. One such driver is Jeff Gordon, currently in the midst of a career-long, 25-race winless drought.

After working his way up from a 28th-place starting spot to fourth late in last year's event, Gordon experienced motor trouble and was relegated to a 17th-place finish.

A car to watch might be the No. 77 Jasper Engines Ford and driver Dave Blaney. That car finished second a year ago with Robert Pressley behind the wheel, just behind Harvick and ahead of the Robert Yates-owner tandem of Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett. Rudd and Jarrett will likely both be contenders again this weekend, as well.

Blaney finished 12th last year in a backup car for Bill Davis Racing and was surprisingly competitive last weekend at Daytona before being caught up in a late-race wreck.

"It's just a shame that we couldn't close the deal and get a great finish in the Pepsi 400 because we were as good as anyone-with maybe the exception of (race winner Michael Waltrip)," Blaney said.

"The guys we raced with through the middle stages of the race were the ones that raced for the win at the end and all finished in the top six.

"For the last four races we've had a legitimate top-10 car and been a contender every week, but we've only gotten one top-10 finish out of it."

Bud Pole Qualifying for the Tropicana 400 begins Friday at 4:05 p.m., ET, on Speed Channel.