Kevin Harvick says he still won’t consider driving in the Cup series in car he owns

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Monday, November 23, 2009

NASCAR Nationwide and Camping Truck series team owner Kevin Harvick says there's no owner/driver role in his future.

David Griffin
NASCAR Scene

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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – As he prepares to determine where he will drive in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2011, Kevin Harvick says he hasn’t changed his mind about possibly driving in the series for himself. He just won’t do it.

Harvick’s contract with Richard Childress Racing ends after the 2010 season, and as early as last July Harvick gave indications that he was seriously considering leaving RCR, saying that he was focused on the present when asked about the future.

About the only thing Harvick knows for sure about 2011 is that he won’t drive for himself.

“I don’t have any intentions of driving for myself,” Harvick said Monday while discussing plans for Kevin Harvick Inc., which will celebrate the 2009 Camping World Truck Series title of Ron Hornaday tonight at the joint Nationwide and Truck series awards banquet. “At the Truck and Nationwide level, you can still drive it and own it. It is just so much more intense on the Cup side.

“I just don’t know that you could separate everything all the time, whether it’s a financial decision, whether it’s a business decision, whether it’s a performance decision. You have all these decisions that an owner-driver has. It’s hard to separate those two when you’re sitting at the competition meeting saying, ‘All right, from a driver standpoint, you want to do it this way; from a business standpoint you need to do it this way.’ So where is that line between performance and business when you’re sitting at that table? That’s a lot harder to draw when you have a $2 million or $3 million decision. A $200,000 or $300,000 decision is a lot different than that.”

Harvick said his company, which has won the Truck title in two of the last three years with Hornaday behind the wheel,

would need the perfect scenario to compete in the Cup series in the future.

“I see how much work it is on Sunday from the driver’s seat,” he said. “You can see how much work it is to keep these programs running on the Nationwide and Truck side. I really enjoy being able to be a part of the programs and [being] a part of the people.

“When you get to Cup, it becomes so big that you can’t be a part of everything. I better be done driving by that point because it’s a full-time job for an owner to be a Cup owner. On top of that, you need millions and millions of dollars to get your program started. It would have to be the 100 percent right situation from a sponsor standpoint, from a manufacturer standpoint [and] you’d have to have a good alliance with somebody. If all those things were lined up, you would have to sit and weigh out the options if I was still driving.”

The KHI plan for next season is to run two full-time Trucks and one full-time Nationwide car with the possibility of a second car in select races. Hornaday will drive one truck while Harvick will drive the other along with Cup drivers in the companion events to Cup races and another driver for non-companion events, Harvick said. Harvick also plans to split time with Hornaday (four or five races), Ryan Newman and possibly others in the Nationwide car.

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Comments

13 responses to "Kevin Harvick says he still won’t consider driving in the Cup series in car he owns". Post a Comment.

1

odonnell-adam said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 3:59 PM
Good thing. If he was the driver and owner, who would get on the radio and tell him to shut up and drive?
2

NickDizzle7 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Burney Lamar, Cale Gale, Kertus Davis, J.R Fitzpatrick, Ricky Carmichael. That's all the talent that's been kicked out of KHI over the years. If his eye for talent is so bad that he can't keep a guy in his Nationwide car or a truck for more than a year, (except for Gale, who still got a raw deal anyway) I don't see why he can't drive for himself.....in any series.
3

Werner said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 5:51 PM
have the wife own the team...
4

jdxenterprises said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 6:43 PM
It's the same thing Dale Sr. did and it worked for him!
5

Phoenix987 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Stewart showed it's still possible to be an owner-driver and be competitive... and without full sponsorship for Newman's car. Harvick is probably worried about being outside the Top 35 and having to qualify.
6

Robby said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 8:32 PM
Yes and no #5. Haas Racing had been established for a few years before Stewart became co-owner. Stewart didnt start from scratch and he was able to steal good people from good teams and was strong out of the box. Look at how him taking key people from Jr's team (Grubb) and Bobby Hutchins (RCR) turned out, not too good for them.
7

Robbygordonfan1 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Not quite Phoenix. Gene Haas gave Stewart 50 percent of an existing team that just needed star power to bring in sponsors to make it fully funded-functional operation. If Kevin Harvick becomes an owner-driver with KHI he would have to pay a lot in upfront costs just to get going. It would be a hard slog like what Micheal Waltrip & Robby Gordon have done and it doesn't sound like Kevin wants to take on that fight. If Yates didn't merge with RPM, Yates could have offered Kevin Harvick a similar deal and I think that could have worked out.
8

LUV88AND99 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 10:11 PM
He has been so disrepectful of Richard Childress, if I was an owner, I wouldn't want him on my team.
9

rwilliamhayes said:
Nov 24, 2009 at 4:51 AM
The two minor league series don't count.The big stage is the CUP SERIES.
10

trtruckin said:
Nov 24, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Harvick,,,,,smart business man, average driver. Business man will take him further than his driving ability. If he doesn't stay with RCR then he'll turn into just another driver floating from team to team and always hoping.
11

daviclar38 said:
Nov 24, 2009 at 9:28 PM
Earnhardt drove for Childress not himself, though he did have two cup teams.
12

grandmasharon0 said:
Nov 25, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Sometimes when I read these articles then I read the comments that follow, I just have to scratch my head and walk away. That is exactly what I am doing here.....walking away, scratching my head.
13

austinh said:
Nov 25, 2009 at 9:44 PM
Great point GRANDMASHARON0 my thoughts exactly Have a nice day.