Busch weekend warrior: despite running a full Winston Cup season under disheartening circumstances, ironman Kevin Harvick dominated the Busch Series - The 2001 Season in Review: Busch - Busch Series automobile racing series

Auto Racing Digest, Feb-March, 2002 by Larry Woody

NO DRIVER HAD RUN A FULL Busch Series schedule while also competing full-time on the sport's premier circuit, the Winston Cup division--until this season. In 2001, Kevin Harvick did it with stunning success.

The 25-year-old Bakersfield, Calif., native charged to the Busch championship while also battling his way to Rookie of the Year honors in Winston Cup. Through mid-November he was entrenched in the Winston Cup top 10, despite having run one less race than the other leading drivers.

"It got a little hectic at times but it was fun and we accomplished what we set out to do," Harvick says of his marathon, 70-race season. "The places where the Busch and Cup races ran as companion events were pretty easy because I was already on-site and it was just a matter of hopping from one garage and one car to another. It was the weekends when the Busch Series ran one place while the Cup Series was at another that got a little busy.

"We went through a tough stretch in July when we ran nine races in eight states. But during that stretch we were able to build our Busch lead and even made a move in the Cup standings. I had good teams and good crews and we had people who handled the logistics. My role was mainly just to make sure I caught the plane."

Richard Childress, who fielded the Busch and Cup cars for Harvick, said the young racer is being modest. "To win a Busch championship--as competitive as that series has become--is a great accomplishment," says Childress. "To win one while at the same time being a strong contender in Winston Cup is pretty remarkable."

"You have to give Kevin and his team a lot of credit," says defending Busch champion Jeff Green, who made a strong late-season charge but came up short. "They did a good job all season. Going in, everybody knew they were going to be tough and sure enough, they were."

In 2000, Green won the Busch title by the biggest margin in the series' history and was a solid favorite to repeat this season. "We had a terrible run of luck during some stretches and just dug ourselves in too deep of a hole," says Green, the first Busch driver to crack the $1 million mark in winnings. "We got caught up in other people's wrecks, stuff like that. They say good luck runs in cycles, and I guess I used up all of mine last year.

"But heck, there's no way I can be disappointed. We won several races and, for the most part, were competitive. I consider our season to be a good one even if we didn't bring home another championship."

Like Green, Greg Biffle also posted four wins and kept things intense and interesting--as did Jason Keller, Todd Bodine, Elton Sawyer, Tony Raines, Mike McLaughlin, and former Busch. Series champ Randy LaJoie. But when the dust settled, the season belonged to Harvick.

Childress' plan was to promote Harvick to a full-time Winston Cup ride in 2002, but that plan was scrambled by the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt in February's Daytona 500. Childress decided to put Harvick in Earnhardt's vacant car--with a different number and paint scheme--for the season's remaining Winston Cup races. At the same time, he wanted Harvick to proceed as scheduled with his Busch duties. "It wasn't a difficult decision," says Childress. "I thought Kevin could handle it or I wouldn't have asked him to do it. As it turned out, he did even better than I ever imagined."

"It was a tough deal, the way it came about," says Harvick. "I thought the world of Dale--he was my racing idol. I never looked at it as a case of me replacing him--nobody will ever replace Dale Earnhardt. I saw it as a matter of Richard needing someone to step in and help out, and I was honored that he had that type of confidence in me."

Harvick hit the ground running. In just his third Winston Cup start of the season, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Harvick streaked to a thrilling victory, beating Jeff Gordon in a side-by-side battle to the stripe. Notice had been served: This kid is the real deal. Harvick added a second Cup win in the inaugural race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Through it all, he did not neglect his Busch duties. Harvick nabbed his first of five wins in his seventh start at Texas Motor Speedway, worked his way into the points lead, and held it through the final 19 races. "I had an obligation to my Busch team and sponsor," says Harvick. "Maybe running the Cup schedule gave me more incentive--I wanted everybody to know that I was 100% committed to my Busch team."

Harvick earned a reputation as a tough, aggressive driver in both divisions, much in the style of the late Earnhardt, and there were times when sparks flew.

Among the drivers with whom Harvick tangled was Green, who will be his Richard Childress Racing teammate in the 2002 Winston Cup season. After tempers boiled over during one race, Green was reminded that he was bickering with his future teammate. "He's not my teammate yet," Green snapped.

Childress chuckles when asked about the incident, and says he has no concerns about teaming up the two talented, fiercely-competitive young racers. "People thought I was going to have my hands full with Kevin and Jeff, but that wasn't a problem," says Childress. "I like to see that kind of competitive spirit in my drivers. That's one of the qualities I look for. I'd rather them be like that than have to goose them along. I'm not worried about them getting alone. The competition will be good for them."