Motorsports

Harvick back, the Chicago way

A trip to Chicagoland Speedway lifts the spirits of Kevin Harvick, who has two of his four Nextel Cup wins at the track.

By MIKE READLING
Published July 10, 2005

Kevin Harvick isn't one of those new breed of NASCAR drivers who use days off to hone their putting skills. You're not going to find him floating through the Caribbean with a fishing pole hanging out the back of his boat either.

Golf? Fishing? It all seems a little too nonchalant for the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet.

Your best chance of finding Harvick is somewhere such as a race shop or quiet hauler. A place he can study a track or try to figure out a car setup or something - anything, really - that might allow him to go just a little bit faster the next time he takes a green flag.

"I just enjoy being at the track, being around race cars," Harvick said. "I don't go out and try to play golf. I don't hang out at the lake or anything like that. I like to spend all my time making whatever effort I can to get better."

Even that approach, Harvick admitted, may need a little bit of work: "Sometimes it's not enough."

Still, constant work and trying to turn tighter circles are all Harvick knows and it's what he'll use in the final nine races before the Chase for the Championship begins to make up the four spots (or 32 points) he needs to qualify.

Harvick's best chance to close in on a shot at his first Nextel Cup series championship begins today in the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

A 1.5-mile tri-oval with 18-degree banking, Chicagoland doesn't distinguish itself from any of the other recent additions to the schedule. But, in the four years since the series began racing there, it has quickly become one of Harvick's favorites.

Two of his four career victories have come at Chicagoland (2001 and 2002). He finished 17th in 2003 and was in the top five last year when he had to make a late pit stop for gas and dropped to 10th. And on Saturday he won the Busch Series race at the track. After finishes of 25th, 37th and 24th the past three weeks, dropping him seven spots in Nextel Cup points, it's easy to see why Harvick is looking forward to some Chicagoland love.

"We're really excited to go to Chicago," Harvick said. "We had a chance to finish fifth or sixth last year and we just ran out of gas. For whatever reason we've run well there in the past. We've just been really inconsistent this year where we've run good and bad and there's been no rhyme or reason. Hopefully we can go up there and have good results."

Last year Harvick jumped from 10th in points to eighth at Chicagoland. A leap like that would be nice, but Harvick knows it's more significant for his team to stay loose, avoid mistakes and concentrate on doing what it does best.

"It's too late to push the panic button, you've got what you've got," he said. "I just try to approach it week to week as I'm just going out to try to win the race. If I can't win the race I just want to do the best I can. Either we do it or we don't."

That's not Harvick nonchalance, that's reality. And, if the key to making the first part of the statement come true is anywhere other than a golf course or at the end of a fishing line, chances are Kevin Harvick will find it.

[Last modified July 9, 2005, 23:35:17]