Motorsports

Risky ways could hurt Harvick's bid

By BRANT JAMES
Published September 19, 2006

There are many reasons to fear Kevin Harvick right now if you happen to be one of the other nine drivers hoping to win the Nextel Cup championship.

And maybe one reason to make you want to bide your time.

Having jumped out in Victory Lane the past three times he slid through the window of a race car - Sunday in the Chase opener, and in the Busch Series and Cup races at Richmond last weekend- Harvick has come to fully expect that whatever move he makes, he will have the car or the guile to make it work.

His thread-the-needle routine between Chase contenders Denny Hamlin and teammate Jeff Burton to take the lead early on Sunday was emblematic of a man who knows he belongs in front until someone does something momentous to run him down.

Those others, meanwhile, are waiting for him to run himself down.

"Once you get that confidence going and obviously what they're doing with the car is working ... Kevin is driving it well," said Jeff Gordon, who finished third. "I kind of hope he does more things like he did with Denny and (Burton) because things like that will lose him the championship if he's not careful."

Skeptics thought running full Cup and Busch schedules would fray Harvick mentally and physically, especially as he ran for titles in each. Many who have contested both in recent years simply for added seat time have later admitted the negative returns. But Harvick's Busch campaign seems only to be fueling his confidence. Little less than extradition to Paraguay will prevent him from keeping a 619-point lead with seven races left to earn a second Busch title.

His 35-point lead in the Chase standings is the largest after one race in three years of the system.

DOUBLE STANDARD: Tony Stewart, the 2005 champion who failed to qualify for the Chase, bemoaned how he must race carefully around title contenders for fear of affecting the championship, but many outsiders raced with little such regard Sunday. And it's difficult to tell them to do otherwise as they pursue their own interests.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., seventh in points after finishing 13th Sunday, got no favors from Ryan Newman as they raced hard for fourth position with 50 laps left. Newman finished 12th.

Gordon, who jumped five spots to fourth in points with a third-place result, continued a race-long battle with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Brian Vickers with a tap on the bumper with 18 laps left as they contested second place.

BULLISH: A.J. Allmendinger, a four-time winner and the only American in the Champ Car series, finished 13th in his NASCAR truck series debut on Saturday at New Hampshire with a few interesting characters watching closely.

According to NASCAR Scene, Team Red Bull competition director Elton Sawyer and general manager Marty Gaunt were among the first to talk to Allmendinger on pit road. Team Red Bull makes its Nextel Cup debut with Toyota's new program next season. Allmendinger, gauging his NASCAR interest and aptitude with Bill Davis Racing - he will race one of its trucks again Oct. 7 at Talladega - has a personal endorsement contract with the energy drink company. BDR will also field a Toyota program in Cup next season.

Asked if the Allmendinger, 24, could be ready to become Vickers' Red Bull teammate next season, Gaunt said it was a "tough question."

Gaunt said TRB will not name its second driver for a month.

EMPTY SEAT: RuSport will not field a replacement driver for the injured Cristiano da Matta in the final three Champ Car races as the former series champion continues to recover from head injuries sustained when he struck a deer while testing at Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Aug. 3.

Da Matta continues to recover at Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wis., where last week he was transferred to a rehabilitation unit. He will eventually return home to Miami to continue rehabilitation.

Dario Franchitti, who is not expected to return to Andretti Green Racing in 2007, was thought to be da Matta's replacement for the remainder of the season, but missed his final Indy Racing League event of the season after suffering a concussion in a crash this month at a vintage car race in England.

[Last modified September 19, 2006, 01:37:00]