 | | For Kevin Harvick, the bond was too great to leave Richard Childress Racing. Credit: Autostock |
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
May 5, 2006
06:16 PM EDT (22:16 GMT)
RICHMOND, Va. -- A glance at what life could be like in another garage made Kevin Harvick realize what he had in his. Harvick, who has been targeted by Toyota and several "other'' Nextel Cup suitors during the past six months, announced on Friday a three-year contract extension with Richard Childress Racing.  |  | | Kevin Harvick celebrates his win at Phoenix. Credit: Autostock |
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| Inside the Numbers |
Kevin Harvick at RCR
(Cup Series stats to date) |
| Year |
No. |
W |
T-5 |
T-10 |
Rank |
| 2001 |
35 |
2 |
6 |
16 |
9 |
| 2002 |
35 |
1 |
5 |
8 |
21 |
| 2003 |
36 |
1 |
11 |
18 |
5 |
| 2004 |
36 |
0 |
5 |
14 |
14 |
| 2005 |
36 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
14 |
| 2006 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
7 |
|
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The 30-year-old Harvick said it became clear he belonged at RCR after a "tour'' of other shops as he tested the free-agent market. "I'd never been to another shop until the end of last year and this year,'' Harvick said after practice at Richmond International Raceway. "I had never even walked into another race shop. ... I wanted to explore my options just to make myself more comfortable in the situation that I was in. "I wanted for myself to understand why I wanted to stay at RCR. And I wanted to give myself the answers, and to know in my head why I was 100 percent into what I was doing.'' Harvick quickly concluded his seven-year relationship with owner Richard Childress and others at RCR meant more than the "potential'' he might find at other teams. "Sometimes you've got to understand a constant situation is a lot better than a changing situation,'' Harvick said. "My guys know me. They can tell when I walk in the garage if I've had a good morning, a bad morning, a bad afternoon, a good afternoon. They can tell what kind of mood I'm in regardless. "It would have been tough to have to do that all over again. They've given me everything they've had, and things haven't always been the greatest. But when it all boils down to it they're all on my side.'' Harvick would not elaborate on teams that courted him outside of Toyota. But the driver tabbed to replace the late Dale Earnhardt in 2001 said he hadn't talked with Toyota officials for several months despite recent reports he topped their wish list. "I had a hard time to ever really coming close to having that be an option,'' Harvick said. "I feel like I've got one of the best crew chiefs [Todd Berrier] in the garage and one of the best teams in the garage. "There's no guarantee that you're going to have the teammates and team that you have right now.'' Harvick said seeing drivers such as Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray struggle after switching teams this year re-confirmed his belief. Busch, who won the 2004 Cup championship at Roush Racing and was 10th last season, is 16th in points. McMurray, who finished 12th, 11th and 13th in points at Chip Ganassi Racing the past three seasons, is 17th. "The grass is not always greener on the other side,'' Harvick said. Harvick said his team has known for several weeks that he'd return, and that his April 22 victory at Phoenix had nothing to do with moving negotiations forward. "It's something we've been talking about since really the beginning of the season,'' Harvick said. "If Phoenix would have never happened and we had never won races, we'd still be standing in the same spot.'' Childress said everything has been positive since late last season when he and Harvick each realized they were committed to winning. "We both had issues we had to put behind us,'' Childress said. "Once we put that behind us we've been moving forward. I knew several months ago, and he knew, too, the direction we wanted to go.'' |  | | The No. 29 Chevrolet is the only Cup car Kevin Harvick has known. Credit: Autostock |
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Harvick said the changes RCR has made in personnel and facilities the past two years have the organization stronger than it has been since Earnhardt's death. Harvick is seventh in points, with teammate Jeff Burton 12th and rookie Clint Bowyer 18th. Bowyer was 12th until getting caught up in a Lap 9 accident last week at Talladega. "I go to the track now thinking we can win every week,'' said Harvick, who finished 14th in points each of the past two seasons. "It's been since 2003 that I've had that feeling. ... Championship teams are teams that have been together for years, not months. "That's what we have.'' Terms of Harvick's contract were not released, but Childress jokingly said the agreement included him returning to Africa for an extended safari. Harvick's lone win this season came while Childress was in Africa shooting an elephant and buffalo. "A lot of history has been made with Kevin and RCR,'' Childress said. "Hopefully, a lot more history will be written over the next year three years. I'm just excited to have it done so I can talk to my good friends in the press about something besides when Kevin and I were going to get this done.'' | 
