Kevin Harvick's victory at Bristol was his first on a short track. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

Harvick, teammates getting along just fine

After stormy times, Harvick finds peace with Burton and Blaney

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Kevin Harvick climbed from the car ready to celebrate snapping his 55-race winless streak.

Overjoyed at his victory, the words came tumbling out of his mouth almost as fast as he had just driven his car.

	Kevin Harvick has had a half-dozen teammates at RCR, but he says he grows more comfortable with Jeff Burton and Dave Blaney with each passing week. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images
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"I'd like to thank my teammates, Jeff Burton and Dave Blaney," he said in the middle of his victory speech at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend.

Yes, it turns out Harvick can get along with others, and that harmony just might be the key to success this season at Richard Childress Racing.

"The relationships are really good right now, everybody understands that you don't have to be best friends or even buddies off the race track and that helps," Harvick said.

"But more importantly, everybody has a common goal and everybody understands what it is, so working together is a lot easier."

Playing well with others wasn't Harvick's strength in his first four Nextel Cup seasons.

He and Mike Skinner didn't exactly hit it off when Harvick was thrust into the late Dale Earnhardt's ride following Earnhardt's 2001 death.

Things didn't get better when Robby Gordon replaced Skinner midway through that season.

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The two had plenty of on-track battles, including one in California when Gordon violated the "gentleman's agreement" and passed his teammate under caution.

Harvick made it public by issuing a statement through the media.

"This dates back a few years and he's shown how he wants to race me," Harvick said after the June 2003 race. "I promise I'm going to race him like he wants it from now on -- teammates or not."

But no feud was as public as the one between Harvick and Jeff Green. It boiled over after a May 2003 race in Richmond, when Green felt Harvick wrecked him to end his day.

Green got out of his car and went to Harvick's pit stall, where he had angry exchanges with Harvick's crew chief and team owner Richard Childress.

"It seems like there's only one team at RCR," Green fumed afterward.

	Inside the Numbers Kevin Harvick has both of RCR's top-five finishes in 2005 Driver T5 T10 Laps Completed Harvick 2 3 1,542 (99%) Blaney 0 1 1,514 (97%) Burton 0 0 1,494 (90%)

So it's easy to understand why Burton was a little hesitant to join RCR late last season after eight harmonious years at Roush Racing.

"I had some concerns about going there, because from the outside all I saw was constant strife," Burton said. "And I was leaving a deal where five teams always got along. I didn't want to go into a situation that was hostile, where from the outside it looked like one guy couldn't get along with anyone."

Harvick eased all of those worries by dropping by Burton's motorhome one night for a man-to-man conversation.

"Once I sat down and met him, all my concerns were gone," Burton said.

In fairness to Harvick, not all the conflicts at RCR were his fault. But as the flagship driver of the three-car organization, it sometimes appeared as if he was the favorite son who could do no wrong.

In reality, it was a clash of strong-willed drivers all wanting to win - as individuals -- at any expense.

With Gordon off as his own car owner this season and Green driving for Petty Enterprises, Harvick now sees how silly some of it really was.

"Robby and I actually got along fine the last year and a half or so - I mean, it took awhile -- but people really blew that way out of proportion," Harvick said. "And Jeff Green and I are on speaking terms and talk to each other now.

"Everybody realizes what they do wrong after the situation is over, and you have to be adults about it and say `Hey, that was stupid."'

Jeff Green was let go by RCR after a run-in with Harvick at Richmond in 2003. Credit: Getty Images/Streeter Lecka

With the current combination of Burton, a respected veteran, and Blaney, a talented driver most believe just needed to land with a strong team, the conflicts should be few and far between. The focus now is on teamwork and getting all three cars to run equally well each week.

"Jeff and Dave don't come with huge egos, and they don't care whose car outruns whose," Harvick said.

Once considered one of the top organizations in NASCAR, when Childress and Earnhardt teamed to win six championships between 1986 and 1994, the team fell off the pace during a 54-race winless streak.

But hard work during the winter and a handful of personnel changes apparently have RCR back on track: Harvick ended the losing streak last weekend at Bristol by sweeping the Nextel Cup and Busch series races.

Now it's just a matter of how long it lasts.

"It is a good mix, but we're still in the honeymoon phase, too," Harvick said. "None of us anticipates anything going wrong. But if it does, we can handle it between ourselves.

"That's good because it doesn't have to get in the media and go down roads it doesn't need to go down.

"We can talk about it ourselves."