Motorsports

Harvick in no hurry to decide future

By BRANT JAMES
Published January 27, 2006

CONCORD, N.C. - Kevin Harvick said he would wait until April to have formal conversations with team owner Richard Childress about his future in the No. 29 Chevrolet.

Harvick, 30, who replaced Dale Earnhardt after his death in the 2001 Daytona 500, will finish his contract this season. Both owner and driver acknowledged that Toyota, which enters the Cup and Busch Series next season, will likely target Harvick for its driver lineup.

"I've been very open with Richard as far as where I sat with my situation," Harvick said. "We have to assess where we are and what we want to do. I'm not in a hurry to do anything. Obviously, the situation is not a bad situation for myself, but I have a seven-year relationship with RCR and there is a loyalty factor that weighs very heavily."

Childress thinks he can get a deal done, but he knows Harvick could be a particularly good fit for Toyota. Harvick owns truck and Busch Series teams that could benefit from Toyota's extensive factory help.

"There's a lot of things that are part of the equation," Harvick said. "You're looking at three race teams (at Kevin Harvick Inc.) and a Cup and Busch team at RCR (that Harvick drives). The driver side of it, the owner side of it, it's all one package."

Harvick has five Cup victories, but never more than one in a season since he won twice on the way to rookie of the year honors in 2001.

GREAT IDEA: Drivers and teams continued to praise the safety aspects but hammer the function of the "car of tomorrow" after NASCAR formally unveiled the long-anticipated vehicle, which is set to begin racing next season.

NASCAR director of research and development Gary Nelson touts the boxier, more stock-appearing model as a way to save teams money because their uniformity will allow for their use at many tracks, ostensibly reducing fleet size.

"Tighter" rules configurations would make the cars more alike from team to team, arguably enhancing competition.

But teams had a counterpoint for virtually every argument NASCAR put forth as the series prepares to phase in the new car over three years.

Felix Sabates, who owns a minority share of Chip Ganassi's three-car Cup team, called the plan "crap." His partner was more eloquent.

"I don't know if throwing out 50 or 60 cars that are good, and making an investment of over 2- or 3- or 4-million dollars over about a three-year period (is good)," he said. "We're going to have dual development programs where we're going to be developing the car of tomorrow with our current car. No one really knows what to expect. Some teams are going to figure it out and some aren't. I guess we have to go along with what NASCAR says, but I'm still a little up in the air about it."

Team owner Ray Evernham questioned additions to the car - such as the striking rear wing - as a sign NASCAR may be groping for solutions it cannot otherwise reach.

"Aerodynamically, the car did not accomplish what they were looking to accomplish (in testing)," he said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have to put a wing on it. Why is there a wing on the back of a stock car? If I wanted a wing I'd go race sprint cars."

Engineers who earn pleasure and paychecks by tweaking the current cars into better racing machines think the extreme uniformity of the new cars leaves little room for ingenuity. Though crew chief Matt Borland said engineers like himself and his driver, Ryan Newman, have found ways around ever-tightening rules on the current cars, he has heard worrisome things about the new ones.

How much wiggle room will he have?

"From the way they describe it to us, zero," he said. "It's going to be nothing different in the cars. How it actually gets implemented, I'm not sure how that plays out. They want it to be a spec car that you don't change or do anything to."

ROLL OUT: Kurt Busch has a court date today in Maricopa County (Ariz.) on charges of criminal reckless driving stemming from a Nov. 11 traffic stop near Phoenix International Raceway where he verbally abused officers, according to charging documents.

[Last modified January 27, 2006, 01:21:16]