Author: Jeff Gluck
Date: Nov. 16, 2014
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The hard part was making the decision.
Kevin Harvick had only known one team for his entire career and had remained loyal throughout. Crew chief Rodney Childers had become a valued asset and earned a promotion.
They both decided to leave the comfortable situation for something new in hopes of finding a spark that would lead both to their first championship.
That leap of faith was the right call for both.
Harvick, a former Richard Childress Racing driver, and Childers, a former Michael Waltrip Racing crew chief, joined Stewart-Haas Racing and became champions together Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Afterward, driver and crew chief said they knew all along it would work out and never questioned whether it was the right move once they got together following a lengthy "dating" process. (Harvick pursued Childers for the crew chief job like a high school crush.)
"I never thought for one second it wasn't going to work," Childers said. "From the moment we looked at each other and said, 'We're going to do this,' it was over."
And even if Homestead had turned out a bit differently, even the uncomfortable questions wouldn't have mattered to them.
Yes, it would have been awkward for Harvick if RCR won its first title in 20 years the year after he left, and by using a driver (Ryan Newman) who he replaced at SHR. And yes, it might have been a bitter pill for Childers to swallow had Denny Hamlin won the title, thus handing him a defeat by a manufacturer (Toyota) that he just left.
But their decisions to join SHR were about more than just winning the championship. Even though that was important, so was happiness. When Harvick decided to leave RCR to join close friend Stewart, it was because racing had gotten stale.
"Tony (Stewart) was pretty adamant we could race for wins and championships, and I think for me that was really what it was all about," Harvick said. "I just wasn't excited about going to work (at RCR). I needed to be excited about going to work."
That realization dawned on him when son Keelan was born. He and wife DeLanadiscussed what really mattered in life, and although Harvick's nickname was Happy, he didn't have that emotion about his job.
"In the end, if you're not happy, nothing is going to work like it should," he said.
And now? "I don't think I've ever been happier in my life."
The decision, he said, "really changed my life."
To be successful in life, Harvick said, one must be willing to make bold decisions. He was referring to the race itself, but it also might apply to his career. He knew SHR'sresources could "get you back in the ballpark" when it came to being a championship contender.
The same goes for Childers, who fought himself for months on whether he should leave MWR and driver Brian Vickers, whom he had known for a couple of decades.
Despite Harvick's sales push, Childers wasn't truly sold on joining him at SHR until Stewart flew from Indiana to North Carolina to meet with him about the job. On Childers' drive home, he thought: If someone is willing to go that far, they'd probably be a good boss.
Said Stewart, "Tonight is proof of why you make those changes."
From the time Harvick first tested with the team in December to their first win together at Phoenix International Raceway, from a victory in the Southern 500 at DarlingtonRaceway to three more in the Chase, the proof has been there all along.
And this was just their first year of marriage; Childers and Harvick aren't splitting up anytime soon.
That means next year could bring even bigger things — more victories than the five they earned this year — and a target on their backs as the favorites to repeat.
For now, though, Harvick and Childers could smile knowing whatever happens in the future, their decisions have already paid off.
"It's been an unbelievable first year," Harvick said. "Pretty awesome."
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