NASCAR Cup Series

Harvick, Childress combine stellar programs

Published Oct. 28, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Kevin Harvick Inc. and Richard Childress Racing will no longer compete against each other in the NASCAR Nationwide Series beginning in 2011.

KHI, owned by RCR Sprint Cup driver Kevin Harvick and his wife, DeLana, will field the group’s Nationwide entries beginning with the 2011 season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. RCR will provide chassis, engine and technical support, according to a team release.

KHI will continue to use Earnhardt-Childress Racing engines in both their NASCAR Nationwide and Truck series programs in 2011.

The exact alignment of the program was not announced, but Harvick announced plans for the No. 33 Friday. Rheem will sponsor the team for 22 races for the next two seasons while Menards will appear on the car for 12 races in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The No. 33 will be shared by Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon.

KHI fields the No. 33 full time, with Harvick driving in most of the 2010 races. Mike Bliss, Ron Hornaday, Max Papis and Elliott Sadler have also driven the car this season. The organization fielded a second entry for Tony Stewart in the season opener at Daytona. Childress fields the No. 21 full time this season. It has been driven by Bowyer, Dillon, Tim George Jr., Scott Riggs, Morgan Shepherd and John Wes Townley this season. Childress also raced with the No. 3 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona.

KHI began full-time Nationwide competition in 2005. It’s Nationwide program has nine wins, 64 top-five and 123 top-10 finishes as well as 12 pole positions.

"This alliance will help both of our race teams," Harvick said. "Richard and I have discussed this opportunity for a while and we thought, at this point, both programs would really benefit from this new structure since the Nationwide Series new cars will be so similar to our Sprint Cup cars."

RCR will focus its development program through its NASCAR Camping World Truck Series program with Austin Dillon and a second team to be named later. Since its inception in 2000, RCR's Nationwide program has earned 56 victories and five championships: two overall championships (2001, 2006 with Kevin Harvick), two owners-only titles (2003 with Harvick and Johnny Sauter; 2007 with Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer) and one driver-only title (2008 with Clint Bowyer).

"Kevin and I are excited about the partnership between RCR and KHI next year," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing. "We have talked about having a joint endeavor for several years and, looking at 2011, the timing couldn't be more right. With RCR fielding at least two Camping World Truck Series teams next year, the trade-off is for us to help KHI with its Nationwide Series efforts. It's a positive step for both companies."

KHI will also continue to field a pair of full-time Truck teams. The organization has two championships with driver Ron Hornaday in that series.
 

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