Driver Stats: Kevin Harvick

Wow, what a ride! Yes, the Shootout at Daytona isn't a points race, but it is the first time this season that drivers got out on the track to compete. And they were ready, testing or no. Despite sustaining some damage to his car early, Kevin Harvick did what he does best--he hung in there and finished the race, this time crossing the finish line first. And for that, he's this week's driver profile. 

Harvick was a rookie in 2001, and had the challenging role of replacing Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing after Sr.'s death in the season-opening Daytona 500. In the bright-yellow #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, he has 11 wins, 5 poles, 56 top 5's, and 120 top 10's. "Happy" Harvick has finished in the top ten for the season 5 times, and last year marked his third straight year in the Chase for the Championship. Widely regarded as a constant threat to win, his last win was actually in the 2007 Daytona 500, where he beat out sentimental favorite Mark Martin in a photo finish. 

Harvick has mellowed  a little since his early Cup years, when he had several probations for altercations. I'm not crazy about grown men acting like drunken idiots in a bar brawl, but I have to say the on-track argument he had with Juan Pablo Montoya in 2007 at Watkin's Glen was pretty entertaining. (No innocent drivers were hurt in the making of this shoving match...) He and his wife own a Nationwide team, and maybe that's helping settle him down a little, or maybe he's just maturing a tad. But if Childress can give him quality equipment and he can focus,  he has the talent to contend for wins and championships. Experts are ranking his chances in the top five this year, but my in my opinion, despite his consistency and obvious passion for the sport, there are at least three other drivers standing in his way to the title. (And we already know who I am cheering on to win it all this year.) 

It's been a long, cold winter, but the rubber has hit the road at Daytona, finally. Martin Truex and Mark Martin have the front row for the 500, but next up--the duels to line up the rest of the field. And I have a feeling that come Sunday, it's checkers or wreckers for a lot of drivers, and we're all feeling a need for speed!