Kevin will start 11th on sunday after qualifying 0.859 off the pace with a speed of 101.676 and time of 89.154.

Points leader Harvick has been black flagged for supposedly making a pass before the green flag, but to me it looked like a clean pass.

The black flag has been recinded as they decided the pass was clean after all.

I thought this was strange too, it was all to do with what side the pass was made on or something like that.

By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
March 6, 2006
11:51 AM EST

MEXICO CITY -- Kevin Harvick got out of Mexico City in a hurry, leaving Sunday's Busch Series race without coming to the media center for post-race interviews as is customary for third-place finishers.

According to a NASCAR spokesperson, there were security issues with crowds leaving the garage and Harvick opted to catch a plane instead of dealing with them.

Whether Harvick returns to Richard Childress Racing next season will not be totally up to the 2001 Nextel Cup rookie of the year.

A source close to the organization said there is concern over whether Harvick is focused enough on his Cup career to be given a long-term contract.

Harvick already owns teams in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series, and is believed to be a target of Toyota as a driver and perhaps owner when the Japanese-based manufacturer enters NASCAR's top series in 2007.

Harvick and team owner Richard Childress have set an April deadline for determining whether they will remain together past this season. Childress has maintained he would like Harvick back.

He also admitted the decision is not one-sided.

"It's got to be right for both of us,'' said Childress, who attended Sunday's race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "It can't be right for just one. It has to be a deal that both of us believe we can win races and win championships.

"If we believe in each other in that way it will be good for both of us.''

Harvick, the points leader in the Busch Series, is ranked 19th in Cup after two races. That places him third among RCR drivers, behind rookie Clint Bowyer (eighth) and Jeff Burton (14th).

Harvick has won only once in the past 89 Cup races, that a victory last spring at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has finished 14th in points the past two seasons since finishing fifth in 2003.

He was 21st in 2002 and ninth in 2001, when he took over the Goodwrench Chevrolet in the second week after Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

That fall, Kevin and his new bride, DeLana, ran their first race in the Craftsman Truck Series under the umbrellas of Kevin Harvick Inc.

In August of 2004, they opened a 70,000 square foot facility in Kernersville, N.C., where they field a full-time Busch and Truck Series team.

Harvick has proven to be more than formidable in the Busch Series, winning 17 races since 1999 and nine during the past three seasons while running a limited schedule.

He showed his talent in Sunday's race despite what almost was a costly mistake by NASCAR. Running third behind eventual winner Denny Hamlin and Todd Kluever on a restart with 23 laps remaining, NASCAR ruled that Harvick passed Kluever before crossing the start-finish line.

The replay showed Harvick clearly did not pass, which Childress argued to officials that already had penalized Harvick a pass-through penalty.

NASCAR officials finally admitted the mistake and put Harvick back in third place on the restart during an ensuing caution.

Now Harvick must convince Childress he wants a long-term deal at RCR.

"Hopefully, we'll get something put together,'' Childress said. "Kevin is one of the most talented drivers out there. I'd like to see him drive for us.''

GM Racing Communications, Press Release


BY RUNNING IN THE BUSCH SERIES AND NEXTEL CUP SERIES, IS IT AN ADVANTAGE TO HAVE MORE TIME OUT ON THE TRACK THAN SOME OF THE OTHER GUYS?

"I think it doesn't hurt anything. It helps get you in the rhythm. It helps the driver more than anything. The setups are quite a bit different but all in all I think it's good for me."


WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS TRACK?

"I enjoy road racing so it's something that I look forward to each year so the couple of races we get to do on the road courses are a lot fun for me. We've been fortunate to have a lot of success here and hopefully we can keep that up."


WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO ROAD RACE?

"I started road racing when I was racing go-karts. That's all I did. We didn't have ovals on the West Coast so I raced go-karts on road courses from the time I was five until I was 16. I ran a couple of road races in the touring divisions on the West Coast."


DO YOU WISH THERE WAS A ROAD COURSE IN THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

"If you're going to determine the champion off of 10 races, I think it needs to be part of the Chase myself."


LEADING THE BUSCH SERIES POINTS AND BEING A TRUCK OWNER, DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD ADD THE CHASE FORMAT TO THOSE TWO SERIES?

"I think it would add a lot of excitement to the series. I think a lot of guys in the Busch and Truck (Series) and I know our team, it takes them a little bit to get going at the beginning of the year. It'd make it a lot more exciting."


ON GOING TO MICHIGAN:

"Michigan was good to us the first time. Our car was good and hopefully we've made it a little bit better than it was last time. Michigan is one of those places where you can move around and make your car work really good if it's not handling real good. It's a lot of fun to race on from the top to the bottom so I'm looking forward to it.


DOES THE TRACK CHANGE A LOT OVER 400 MILES?

"It does change a lot. The groove kind of gets wore out and then you have to hunt around to find some more grip."


HAVE YOU HAD MEETINGS WITH NASCAR ON FINDING A SOLUTION FOR MAKING THE BUSCH SERIES BETTER? HAVE YOU SAT DOWN WITH NASCAR TO TALK ABOUT COST SAVING IDEAS?

"I don't know that they've (NASCAR) specifically met with me but we have talked about it just in general conversation, nothing as far as a specific meeting or anything like that. I know they're working to trying to get the costs down in the Truck and Busch cars to keep it competitive and keep everybody able to participate."


DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR EXPERIENCE HERE GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE OVER SOME OF THE OTHER DRIVERS?

"I don't think so. Jeff Gordon has been here quite a bit so there are a lot of guys that have a lot of experience here. I don't think I have an advantage in this garage."


ON A ROAD COURSE RACE BEING SO CLOSE TO THE CHASE:

"I think it's another race for us. We know what our schedule is and you have to have them at some point. I think it's good. It breaks the schedule up a little bit at the last part of the year before the Chase."


CAN YOU COMPARE THE RCR HORSEPOWER LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR AND HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IT HAS MADE FOR YOU:

"Everything has changed at RCR and I don't think it's the engines that make the cars run faster. The engines are better. The cars are better. Everything is a little bit better. We still have some work to do on our engines and our cars and everything that we got but everything is better and everything is running really good. We just got to keep progressing in that direction but it's not just one thing. It's not just the engines that make it run better."


IS THERE A FINE LINE WITH BEING CAUTIOUS WHEN YOU'RE SO CLOSE TO THE CHASE?

"I think you just go for it, man. That's what gets you to this point. You just go as fast as you can go because everybody that's in the Chase or outside of the Chase, everybody is fast. You have to run as hard as you can run and try to put yourself in position where you need to be and if you don't you're going to run 20th. You have to go pretty much as hard as you can go to make it happen."


WITH THINGS BEING BETTER OVERALL, DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE IN THE POSITION TO MAKE A RUN FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

"I think we're in an OK position. We just can't make any mistakes. As long as we don't do that I think we're OK. There are some things that you can't control and things happen so it's still a lot of pressure on everybody to make it happen and perform and do the things you need to do to get in the Chase. Right now it's going to come down to who is going to make the least mistakes in the next five weeks."


IS THE ROAD COURSE GOING TO THROW SOME DRIVERS OFF BECAUSE IT'S SO UNPREDICTABLE?

"Oh yeah. It's going to be interesting regardless just for the fact that it is a road course and there's a lot of chance to get in trouble and a lot of opportunity to break stuff. It's something that definitely throws a twist in it here at the end. You can make a lot of points or you can lose a lot of points so it's real easy to do one way or another."


ON TIME RESTRAINTS WITH BEING AN OWNER AND A DRIVER AND THIS SCHEDULE AND MARK MARTIN SAYING HE DOESN'T HAVE THE ENGERY FOR THAT:

"He's older (laughs). It's something that I enjoy doing. I don't have any kids. I don't really do anything else other than race so that's kind of my hobby, what I like to do in my spare time. When I do have spare time I spend it at the shop or (doing) whatever it takes to make it all go around. Driving the Cup car is a huge commitment and then throw in driving the Busch car. There's a lot of things going on but I enjoy it. I feel like I found a good balance with time for everything."


HOW DO YOU AS AN OWNER GIVE YOUNG DRIVERS THE TIME TO MOVE UP YET GAIN EXPERIENCE?

"I don't think anybody like Carl Edwards or any of the guys that came up the last few years (like) Kyle Busch have had any problems. If you find the guy that can do it, they can do it and things are going to go good and you're going to see those flashes of brilliance come out of them and know that they can do it once they get the experience. You have to see some shining star of hope. I don't think they saw any signs of hope and that's probably why they made a change. It's definitely possible to get a guy and make him come up and do what he needs to do and get him the experience. You have to take the time in that first year to take the bumps in the road and the sponsor has to be good with it."


WILL THE SPONSOR WAIT AROUND LIKE THAT?

"Dollar General has been really good with Burney (Lamar). They let us put Jeff in there one week to let us evaluate the car. They understand that there's going to be some bumps in the road. He's had those flashes of brilliance so they've been very patient.
They're looking forward to next year and doing what they have to do to hopefully be in the top 10 and top five and have a chance to win some more races. They expressed that that's what they wanted coming in so they've stood behind him and stood behind us and it's been fun to watch it grow but you have to take those bumps before you can get to where you want to be."



AFTER THE BUSCH RACE DO YOU HAVE A TEAM MEETING TO DISCUSS WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THE BUSCH RACE TO GO INTO SUNDAY'S RACE?

"Todd (Berrier, crew chief) and I will talk about it. Obviously he's doing the crew chief stuff on the Busch car for the last week here. Most of the time Todd and those guys and the other crew chiefs will be on pit road and talk about it. We won't sit down but we'll pretty much already know what we'll need to do."

This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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Kevin Harvick is 519 points ahead of 2nd place Carl Edwards. Harvick is also sitting 3rd in Nextel Cup points with two races left to the chase. Looking at what Harvick did in the Cup race after hitting the wall and coming back finishing 11th, I think this #29 crew is more than able to give Jimmie Johnson a run for his money for the Cup Championship. It already looks like there is no one that will be able to challenge Harvick for the Busch Championship becasue Harvick would have to sit out two races for the other drivers to even come close. Harvick will be a threat in the chase.

WOW!!! That is very interesting! Now I am in a dilemma about who I want to win the Cup Championship!!! Since my driver and his team mate seem not to be in the chase this year, I am looking at who I should root for. My choices are 8, 9, 11, and now the 29 has pulled at my heart too!

I am very happy for Harvick this year(~LOL~). While I sometimes don't care for his personal style, I have to admit he is a good driver and has paid his dues to be here!

Thanks for the info Harvickfan1987!

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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That would be awesome to have a Childress car win a championship again!! Anyone but the 48. I have been thinking that the 17 probably has the best chance but both Harvick and Kenseth have been on a tear! If my boys Smoke or Junior can't win, it would be nice to just see another team win besides Rousch.

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Go Junior Go. Go Smoke Go.

I would hope that you would go with Kevin Harvick since he is SMOKE'S bestfriend