This season, Kevin “Happy” Harvick could truly live up to his nickname.
There have been times throughout the 36-year-old’s career when he’s been anything but happy. Harvick, however, will have plenty to smile about in 2012.
Not only has the weight of owning a successful race team been lifted from his shoulders, but Harvick’s wife, DeLana, is expecting the couple’s first child this summer.
At his day job, driving for the flagship team at Richard Childress Racing, Harvick has finished third in the point standings the past two seasons.
So his new crew chief, Shane Wilson, carefully reconstructed the No. 29 Budweiser squad to provide his driver with the best opportunity to win the Sprint Cup championship. With all but one new member on the team, this is a fresh start for everyone.
And without the burden of running Nationwide and Truck series teams, Harvick has enjoyed downtime this offseason — something that was rare as an owner. He has had the luxury of being a leader with his own men.
Harvick said he has spent more time at RCR’s campus in Welcome, N.C., this offseason than ever before. He also spent time skiing in Aspen and at the beach with friends.
During a preseason test at Nashville Superspeedway, Harvick was sporting a soon-to-be-daddy glow despite the frigid temperatures outside. His exchanges with Wilson in person and over the radio were warm and constructive. While there’s a sense of purpose in the exercises, the two genuinely appear to enjoy each other’s company. If the feedback is any indication of the chemistry developing between Harvick and Wilson, the potential exists for the No. 29 team to have a breakthrough season and return the Cup championship to RCR for the first time since 1994.
Midway through the afternoon test session, Harvick radioed to Wilson that if all of his cars handle this well, then the competition “is in for a long year.”
“It’s been great,” Harvick said. “But it’s not just my guys; it’s the entire shop. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of people are working on a lot of the same stuff. So everyone is working together. It’s not about making one team better; it’s about making all three teams stronger so we can have the same stuff and go in different directions and make us all better together.”
Wilson enjoyed success with Clint Bowyer, despite the uncertainty surrounding the No. 33 team last season with it being a contract year for the driver and the sponsor. That won’t be an issue with Harvick and Budweiser. Yet downsizing RCR from a four-car Cup operation back to three has allowed management to strengthen the core squads by distributing the most talented individuals throughout the remaining teams.
One area Wilson will address is a lack of consistency. Harvick generally starts the season with a lot of energy, but his teams have run out of steam before the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
“You’ve got to have that speed in the last 10 weeks every week,” Harvick said. “We were on and off. Yes, we were in contention to win. But you have to be able to overcome mistakes and then have that speed like Stewart did to make up for it.”
By moving Wilson to the helm of the No. 29 team, RCR is hoping to change that trend.
“In 2010, they finished third and were pretty close. Then, last year, they finished third but were kind of out of it going into Homestead,” Wilson said of Harvick’s previous team. “To a lot of us, that is still an accomplishment. But for that group and Kevin, he wants more and didn’t feel like they were getting better. They actually felt they were getting worse again. The people in charge felt it was time to take a chance with this combination.
“The 33 (Wilson’s former team), we were a little inconsistent as a group, but with everything that was going on we were racing for our jobs and our lives last year and put together a pretty good 10 races last year with Clint. We were doing stuff over there for the company trying to move forward. They’re giving us a chance to see if we can do better. While some people look at it as ‘championship or bust,’ I believe it’s a great opportunity.”
Harvick certainly believes so. He has bought into his new arrangement and is confident in Wilson and the team’s ability. Could this finally be the year he breaks through and wins the title?
“If not, then it’s a start in the right direction,” Harvick said. “You never know what the year is going to throw you or how things are going to go or what your luck is going to be. But with all the things we have available, we feel that we’ve put together the best scenario that we could."
That scenario, Harvick said, includes his paring with Wilson and teammate Jeff Burton's pairing with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, who had been with Roush Fenway Racing.
“There’s not really one piece of the puzzle that you can say will make it better," Harvick said, "but, personally, myself and RCR, we’ve made more changes this year than we’ve had during my career there. From the outside looking in, there are big personnel changes, but they’re not unfamiliar methods. Drew’s methods are unfamiliar, and it made us look at a lot of things.
"We’ve built these teams with the intentions to race for a championship. Whether we accomplish that goal or not remains to be seen, but with the pieces that we have, this is the best opportunity that we’ve had.”
