Harvick settles for truck championship

The NASCAR Nextel Cup season that began in such promising fashion for Kevin Harvick, winning the Daytona 500, didn’t live up to his hopes or expectations.

The Richard Childress Racing driver did make it into the 12-man Chase for the championship, but he failed to win another Cup race and wound up 10th in the points -- not exactly the stuff of dreams.

But add in six wins and a fourth-place finish while driving a partial Busch Series schedule, as well as a Craftsman Truck championship won for Kevin Harvick Inc. by Ron Hornaday Jr. and the 2007 season doesn’t seem so disappointing for Harvick and wife DeLana, the team’s co-owner.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of championships with Kevin, but there’s nothing that can quite describe the feeling that you have when it’s your own team because we’re there every day with these guys and we see how hard they work,” DeLana Harvick said.

Hornaday had a season-long battle with Mike Skinner and didn’t wrap up the championship until the finale race of the season in Homestead. Harvick also drove in that race and was among the first to congratulate his driver and longtime friend, pulling alongside his truck on the back straightaway and giving Hornaday a thumbs-up.

It was an emotional moment for Harvick, who slept on Hornaday’s couch for several months when he was trying to make his way into NASCAR.

“To be able to give something back to somebody, I mean, you can’t put a price on it,” Harvick said. “I grew up racing on the West Coast with Hornaday and he did so much for me and for my career. It’s reward, it’s satisfying.”

It was the biggest moment yet for KHI, which has entries in both trucks and Busch, which will be called the Nationwide Series next year.

“You know, I tell my people, and DeLana and I talk about this a lot, owning a race team is a lot like owning any other sports franchise, and it’s taken us six years to get our truck team to where it’s at,” said Harvick, who will turn 32 next month. “A lot of people want to know why your Busch team isn’t running as well. Three years ago the truck team was about where the Busch team is. We got the right people in there this year, and from that point all the pieces were in place.

“We employ about 80 people now and to see it start from one truck, a bunch of guys from RCR, and evolve into 70,000 square feet, four race teams, is something that’s also very rewarding to be a part of. To build from scratch and see it evolve into a championship-winning organization is very gratifying.”