By: Tom Jenson, Speedtv.com
Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be all business for Kevin Harvick, as he kicks off the pursuit of his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
But Saturday, he gets to have some fun.
In addition to his duties behind the wheel of the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Sprint Cup car this weekend, Harvick will also race his own No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado in Saturday’s New Hampshire 200 Camping World Truck Series event. SPEED will have live television coverage of qualifying at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, followed by the race itself, starting at 2:30 p.m. with the “NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Setup,” hosted by Krista Voda.
Harvick will be one of the favorites this weekend, having already scored victories at Atlanta, Martinsville and Gateway, and a second-place finish at Nashville in his four prior Truck Series races this year. In those races, his average starting position was 3.75 and his average finish 1.25. It literally doesn’t get much better than that.
Given the pressure of getting the Chase for the Sprint Cup kicked off, Harvick ought to be able to relax and enjoy Saturday’s Truck Series race at the 1.058-mile NHMS oval, a place where he already has victories in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.
“I always look forward to the flat race tracks like New Hampshire Motor Speedway, since I’ve always been successful on them and so has our team,” said Harvick. “Ron (Hornaday Jr.) has three wins at the track, two of them in KHI trucks, so I have no doubt that we have the ability to show up and win.”
Harvick would like to reach another milestone this weekend with his truck, which this race will carry the bright yellow colors of new sponsor Jegs.com.
“Tracks like Loudon are a lot of fun, and I’ve won there in both the Cup and Nationwide Series, so it would be cool if I can get the Truck Series win and add this to the list of tracks where I have won in all three series,” he said.
And there’s no question about Harvick’s love of racing at flat tracks, where he has usually excelled.
“I’ve always liked the flat tracks,” said Harvick. “New Hampshire is a lot like Phoenix, and I grew up racing there (Phoenix) when I was first starting out, so I feel like that my success on flat tracks has carried over to my career in NASCAR’s top series. There’s a lot of braking. You have to really work on getting your car through the center of the corner and still have the forward bite you need up off the corner, so you get all three aspects of the truck, the driver and the setup all in one.”