Harvick grows into leading role for comeback RCR

The first time Kevin Harvick visited Michigan International Speedway in 1999 also marked the first occasion he met Dale Earnhardt.

Talking with the media following his Sunday victory in the Carfax 400 at MIS, Harvick recalled team owner Richard Childress taking him to meet the legendary driver in the front of Earnhardt's No. 3 hauler.

"Come on up in the lounge. Earnhardt is changing," Harvick recalled Childress saying.

So Harvick, a bit young and more than a little timid in the situation, walked up into the lounge where Earnhardt was changing into his driver's suit. There, Earnhardt met him with a steely gaze.

"He looked at me like, 'Who the hell are you?'" Harvick said. "I sat down in the lounge and just kind of didn't really have much to say. Then we went out and watched the race.

"To see all the people [cheering for the No. 3 Chevrolet] ... I just watched the race, watched Earnhardt race at the front that day, and just took it all in."

Earnhardt didn't win that day, but that wasn't all that unusual for a Childress-owned car at Michigan. Only two of Earnhardt's 76 career victories came at the 2-mile oval -- the last coming in June 1990, more than two decades before Sunday's stirring and important victory for Harvick and Richard Childress Racing.

Harvick has come a long, long way as a driver since that day in 1999. And RCR has come a long, long way as an organization since just the middle of last season.

Long time coming

It wasn't long ago that Harvick was mired in a 115-race winless streak, which he snapped by winning at Talladega earlier this season. Harvick scored another victory at Daytona in July -- and he's been consistent enough in all the other races to sit atop the point standings for all but five weeks this season.

And while the other two RCR cars -- the No. 31 Chevy driven by Jeff Burton and the No. 33 Chevy driven by Clint Bowyer -- have yet to win a race this season (and didn't last year, either), there are signs that they're coming on, too. Burton, in particular, has had chances to win this season and has run and finished up front often enough to currently sit seventh in points despite a mediocre 24th-place finish Sunday. Bowyer moved into 12th in the points with a 13th-place finish at Michigan.

With only three races remaining before the 12-driver Chase cutoff, that means all three RCR cars currently are in position to run for the championship.

Last year, none of them were. Bowyer ended up 15th, and that was the best of the RCR bunch. Burton finished 17th and Harvick 19th, fueling speculation that Harvick, whose contract was going to be up at the end of the 2010 season, was poised to leave the company where he had been since even before replacing Earnhardt in a Cup car following the legend's death in February 2001. Casey Mears drove a fourth RCR car in 2009 and finished 21st in points, which, combined with sponsorship dollars leaving and not being replaced, led to that team disappearing completely for the 2010 season. (Continued)