Kevin Harvick Inc. bids farewell at Homestead

Racing at Homestead this weekend is bringing about some mixed emotions for Kevin Harvick as he bids farewell to his Truck and Nationwide Series teams. The 2011 season was full of highs, including Harvick’s recent win at Texas and Ron Hornaday, Jr.'s four wins, to lows including struggles from both Hornaday and Elliott Sadler.



Kevin Harvick, Inc. will close up its Truck Series team at the season's end. As for the Nationwide Series team, they are merging with Richard Childress Racing to create a new powerhouse in the Nationwide Series.

Making their NASCAR debut in 2001, KHI has two championships with Ron Hornaday, Jr., in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2007 and 2009. KHI as an organization has 53 wins in both series, many attributed to Hornaday.



During today’s NASCAR teleconference, Harvick was asked if he thinks this weekend is going to be emotional for him, being the end of KHI as we know it. Harvick replied in part saying, “The Nationwide cars will race for the last time under the current way the company is structured. There are some emotions. I got over those nine or ten weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how those emotions are as they push the cars and trucks into the trailers for the last time.”



Harvick continued, “The transformation that's been happening at the shop as we've gone through the last several weeks of stuff being moved and transferred and things kind of starting to take a new look of the way the buildings will function as we move forward kind of has put it all into perspective from several weeks ago.”

“I don't think it will be that big of an emotional shock to know that's the last one,” said Harvick.

It was a tough end for KHI; both teams were eliminated from championships runs through somewhat deliberate wrecks. Ron Hornaday, Jr., was blatantly wrecked by Kyle Busch in the NCWTS race at Texas while Elliott Sadler suffered similar fate in Phoenix at the hands of Jason Leffler.



I asked Harvick how it feels for their championships to come down to a single accident. His honest and somewhat surprising reply, “The way I look at it is neither of those accidents cost us the championship. I think as you look back at the season, the Truck Series program, for instance, Ron got off to a rough start at Daytona, then they had several good weeks. The middle of the season was just kind of a disaster, I guess you could say. We put the pieces back together I guess for the last third of the season. Really they were playing catch-up for the whole time.”



“You can look at the Nationwide team and have those same arguments,” said Harvick. “They didn't win any races. You got to have some cushion in there. You got to perform to the level that you need to perform at to not have it come down to one race.”



Harvick summed it up, “I don't think either of those accidents are the reasons we didn't win those championships.”



This weekend KHI looks to end the season on a high note, Harvick himself returns to the No. 2 truck for KHI, while Elliott Sadler and Ron Hornaday look to end strong.