Kevin Harvick, Set Me Free!

Emotions were running very high for the No. 29 team on that 11th day of March, 2001.

Just three weeks before, Kevin Michael Harvick had no idea just how much of an impact this one race would have on this day, as well as the rest of his career.

Happy, as he is known around the racing world, was still racing in the Busch series that same year, which was also going to include running seven races in the Winston cup series in preparation to take over the No. 3 car once Dale Sr. decided it was time to retire.

So how would this 25-year-old driver from Bakersfield, California prepare himself to take over one of the most famous race cars that this series has ever seen?

Kevin started his racing career as most of our top stars did, at a very young age.

He was only five years old when his parents bought him his first go-kart as a kindergarten graduation present.

Kevin was born a natural talent, as he began to move up the ranks through the Elite division of the Southwest series which races Late Models around his hometown where he grew up.

Kevin captured the 1998 Winston West championship, a year before he would eventually make his Craftsmen Truck series debut at his home track of Mesa Marin in Bakersfield, California.

In 2000, Kevin would move into the Busch series full-time, finishing the year with three wins, eight top-five finishes, and 16 top-10 finishes.

Kevin would reap the rewards of all his hard work, by winning the Busch Series Rookie of the Year award that same year.

So as the 2001 racing season was about to begin, all of Kevin’s dreams of becoming a big time NASCAR driver were about to come true.

Richard Childress planned to develop Harvick into the Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) with up to seven races in an America Online-sponsored third car, No. 30.

He planned to race Harvick for a full schedule in 2002, but the racing gods decided otherwise; this would be a day when the entire racing world would come to a standstill.

Early retirement would come a lot sooner for the man who had one of the most famous nicknames in the sport, and Childress’s plans would change dramatically when "The Intimidator" was killed during the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Harvick would not only be thrown into the snake pit a lot earlier than expected, but he would also have some big shoes to fill.

Kevin would find that out even though the car would run a reverse white and black scheme (what was black became white, and what was white became black). That even with a number change from three to 29, the fans would still acknowledge who drove that car to 76 race wins, and seven Winston cup championships.

The mountain that was set before him would not be an easy one to climb, but instead he would have to approach it one step at a time, while trying to erase the pain knowing that the memory of NASCAR’s biggest star was still fresh in the minds of his loyal fans.

Kevin knew that with each race, there would also be a whole different set of circumstances that could come his way.

Some would be unbearable, and some would be able to take an approach that could have an outcome suitable to what the fans, as well as his team, were expecting from their young driver.  

Kevin would enter his third cup start of the 2001 season having no idea what to expect. He had just come off of a 14th place finish at “The Rock” followed by a very impressive eighth place finish at Las Vegas just a week later.

It was kind of ironic that it was the third race for Harvick, in the No. 3 car as it was known before the death of Earnhardt.

The race would also produce the third closest finish in NASCAR history, and be against Jeff Gordon, who was tabbed as the next up-and-coming superstar.

What’s even more ironic is that Kevin would come back that same year, and finish third on Nov. 18 at the same track.

All of these numbers fell right into place, as if Earnhardt himself were looking down from the heavens having planned it this way.

There are still many race fans that believe to this day that Earnhardt not only watches from the heavens, but also at times sends his special little signs to let the racing world know he is still very much in tune with what’s going on in today’s racing world.

Even Kevin himself still looks back at just how surreal that moment was on that day.

“To win your first race is something that’s pretty cool. To do it in our third start, with everything that was going on, you can really look back on it now and reflect on those types of things.

"At that particular moment, I don’t remember a whole lot from that particular day. There are just so many emotions that were running through your mind—good emotions, bad emotions, everything that was happening. It was a little bit confusing, to be honest with you.”

So now what happens when one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers decides he wants out of an organization that has backed him since the beginning of his career?

Harvick, who still has a year remaining on his current contract that would take him through the 2010 season, is reported to have asked team owner Richard Childress if he could leave after the 2009 season.

Knowing that the Harvick’s Shell sponsorship is up at the end of the season, Harvick is hoping that he and Shell could move over to Stewart/Haas Racing next season, especially with the sudden rise in success that SHR has been experiencing.  

It’s also no big secret that Harvick and Stewart also have a very good relationship on and off the track, especially since Stewart drove Harvick’s Nationwide car in a race on April 4 at Texas Speedway.