Kevin Harvick leaning toward returning to Richard Childress Racing in 2011
Kevin Harvick is the top free agent for 2011. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Illustrated
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Kevin Harvick, the top free-agent driver for 2011, said he has had several conversations with team owner Richard Childress about returning to Richard Childress Racing but has not decided where he will drive in 2011.
Harvick, whose sponsor Shell/Pennzoil announced earlier this week that it will leave RCR to sponsor Penske Racing and driver Kurt Busch next year, said negotiations are continuing for him to stay at RCR. Last July, when his RCR team was struggling, Harvick would not even answer questions on whether he would return to RCR after his contract ended.
“Right now, we’re really trying to focus on what we’re doing and I’m truly not trying to get in the middle of it [with the media] like I have in the past,” Harvick said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. “I don’t think there is anything pressing time-wise for anybody, whether it’s the team at RCR or myself.
“Rightfully so, that’s the opportunity that we have to try to work out first. That’s where we’ve been headed the past several months as far as talks and things like that. It’s only fair that we work on all that first.”
Because his Kevin Harvick Inc. fields Nationwide and Truck Series teams that run Chevrolets and he builds Chevrolets for several other teams, Harvick said it would be a “good, fair statement” that he likely will remain in a Chevrolet next year.
Considering that there is likely no Cup rides available at Hendrick Motorsports, that would leave RCR, Stewart-Haas Racing and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing as his main options.
Harvick has raced his entire Cup career for RCR after he replaced Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500. He has 11 career victories, including the 2007 Daytona 500, has finished in the top 10 in points five times and currently is fourth in the standings.
“We’ve been talking about a lot of things for several months,” Harvick said. “It’s not any different than we normally would do at this particular time. The cars are running well. Everybody is communicating well.
“I don’t know what else to say other than Richard and I have had many, many, many, many, many, many conversations over the last several months. Where all that leads? Right now, I’m driving the 29 car. I don’t see where anything is going or this or that, but I know that Richard and I have had a lot of conversations.”
As far as losing his sponsor, Harvick said he understood Pennzoil’s decision, although he indicated that he wasn’t happy with the process – which supposedly had Penske not on Shell/Pennzoil’s radar until late in the negotiations and Penske was able to offer business opportunities in his other transportation companies.
“I don’t have any ill will towards anybody or anything like that,” Harvick said. “I don’t particularly agree with the way the whole situation was handled. In this particular situation, I’m the driver.
“It’s not anything new to the sport. There’s sponsors that come and go and things change and in this particular situation, there was a lot of business to business that took place. It is not anything new, and being an owner, you understand that there are a lot of decisions that take place. Other than that, it is what it is and you roll on.”
Harvick also had a message for the media a day after a national magazine’s Web site quoted an unnamed source saying that Harvick had burned all his bridges at RCR.
“If you’re going to quote a source, put their name [in the story],” Harvick said. “If they’re too chicken to give you their name, don’t put their quote in the paper.”
