HARVICK TO COMPETE IN INAUGURAL NASCAR RACE AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
DAYTONA BEACH, Fllorida -- Kevin Harvick has been on a roll since winning this year’s Daytona 500 in February. His fast pace continues this week, as he prepares to compete in the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday night and then fly to Iowa for NASCAR’s inaugural event at Iowa Speedway on Sunday.
The two events each represent a major part in Kevin Harvick’s racing career. The annual all-star event on Saturday brings together the best drivers in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, where Kevin Harvick has become a star since joining NASCAR’s premier series in 2001. Sunday’s race, the Featherlite Coaches 200, is a combination event for the NASCAR Grand National Division, where Harvick won his first NASCAR touring championship in the West Series in 1998.
“I’m pretty excited about going to Iowa to run the East-West race,” Kevin Harvick said. “I’ve never been to Iowa, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about the track. It will be nice to go back and run with the series where I basically got my start in heavier stock cars. I learned a lot in the West Series and even won the championship. I feel like it helped prepare me for my future in NASCAR’s top series.”
A lot has changed for the Bakersfield, Calif., native in the 10 years since he won that title as a 22-year-old in the West Series. Kevin Harvick went on to sign with Richard Childress Racing. He won the rookie title in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2000 and a year later won his first of two championships in that series.
Kevin Harvick also won the rookie title in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series in 2001, after moving into the premier series following the death of seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt. Since then, Kevin Harvick has accumulated 11 wins, 47 top-five and 90 top-10 finishes in 188 starts.
He began racing go-karts at the age of 5 and graduated to Late Model stock cars, winning the championship at his hometown track of Mesa Marin Raceway in 1993. Kevin Harvick moved on to the Southwest Series in NASCAR’s Elite Division, where he won the rookie title and finished 11th in the overall championship standings in 1995.
Kevin Harvick made his debut in the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series driving for Spears Motorsports in the final race of 1996 – starting fourth and finishing 13th in the inaugural NASCAR event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He registered top-10 finishes in two of three series starts he made the following season.
In a sign of things to come in his future, Kevin Harvick raced two divisions for Spears Motorsports in 1998 – running the full West Series schedule as well as competing in all but one race that season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Despite the double duty, he was able to come home with the West Series championship
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