Kevin Harvick doesn’t need much time to make himself noticed. The Cup veteran ran 28 races, the fewest of any driver in the top six of the Nationwide Series point standings in 2010, but outpointed nine drivers who ran the full schedule.
His Kevin Harvick Inc. team fielded cars for six different drivers in 2010 and three of them finished in the top five in their lone start, including Tony Stewart’s victory in the season opener at Daytona. Elliott Sadler not only finished third at Bristol, but won the pole in that race.
Harvick is dangerous as a driver and as team owner of a rapidly improving team. Now that he’s taken over the running of the former Richard Childress Racing Nationwide program, that only figures to continue.
What went right
Harvick won from the pole in the fall Richmond race, leading 170 of the 250 laps at the 0.75-mile track. He also had two other poles (spring Talladega and Chicagoland) and two other victories (Las Vegas and spring Nashville).
But Harvick’s ability to step back in after time away from the series may be his biggest strength. He finished sixth at Charlotte and then missed the next three races while focusing on his Cup team. He returned at New Hampshire with a seventh-place run. His worst finish in a return race after missing at least one was an eighth-place finish this past fall at Texas after skipping the Gateway race the previous week.
What went wrong
Not a whole heck of a lot. Harvick had just one race in which he failed to finish on the lead lap, when his engine blew in the season’s second race at Fontana after 117 of 152 laps. Other than that, his worst finish was a 16th at Gateway in July.
Harvick doesn’t need to win in the Nationwide Series for himself, but running well obviously helps his KHI brand. The pressure of that success resting solely on his shoulders probably didn’t help.
Looking to 2011
Thankfully, it won’t be on his shoulders next year. Harvick signed Sadler to race full time in Nationwide, and Harvick will also have the talents of RCR driver Clint Bowyer and newcomer Paul Menard to use in his cars.
That should take some of the burden off Harvick, but will also most likely keep him on a more limited schedule.