Driver Profile

Kevin Harvick's racing career literally began in his toddler years. When he graduated from kindergarten, his parents gave him a go-kart to race around the local tracks in sunny Bakersfield, Calif.

In the 10 years that Harvick raced go-karts, he won seven national and two grand national go-kart titles before graduating to the Featherlite Southwest Series in 1992, where he raced part-time while completing high school.

After finishing high school, while most kids were moving on to college, Harvick moved on to a full-time effort in the Featherlite Series. He took rookie of the year honors in 1995.

Harvick would eventually go to school at Bakersfield Junior College; but when push came to shove, Harvick knew what he needed to do.

“Racing is something I’ve wanted to do my whole life," said Harvick. “In 1997, when I was attending Bakersfield Junior College, the time came for me to make a choice about my future: I either had to focus on racing full-time, or decide on a new profession and begin training for it. I chose racing, and I’ve never looked back.”

Two years later, Harvick won the 1998 Winston West Series Championship after a five-win season.

What happened next would change Harvick's life.

A brief run in the Craftsman Truck Series led to a meeting with Richard Childress. Childress, impressed with Harvick's hard-charging style, offered Harvick a ride in the Busch Series. Harvick won Busch Series rookie of the year honors in 2000 after grabbing three wins and finishing third in the series standings.

In 2001, after Dale Earnhardt's death in the Daytona 500, Childress pegged Harvick to take over the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, leading to what Harvick called the most incredible year of his life.

Harvick ran full-time in both the Busch and Cup Series -- a total of 69 races. He outdueled Jeff Gordon to get his first Cup win at Atlanta in just his third start, and became the first driver to win both the Busch Series championship and Cup rookie of the year honors in the same season.