Harvick to be lavished with honors on Friday

By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
January 11, 2002
9:00 AM EST (1400 GMT)

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Harvick is one of two things: resiliency personified or utterly insane.

From the outset of the 2001 NASCAR campaign, Harvick was positioned squarely in the inimical shadow of adversity. Still, the spotlight managed to find him week after week.

As if the fabled sophomore jinx wasn't daunting enough, pile on the mammoth pressure of serving full time double duty and, oh yeah, replacing the greatest driver to ever crank a motor, and you come away with truly one of the most remarkable individual efforts in NASCAR history.

2001: By the Numbers  Message Boards  2001 Recap  Final 2001 Standings  Rookie Standings  Video: The 2001 Season  Video: Harvick clinches  Video: Harvick and Childress celebrate

Here's the proof of insanity: Harvick raced in a total of 70 events in NASCAR's three major series during the 2001 season, logging an astounding 17,007 laps -- 21,347.14 miles -- along the way.

During that marathon-ish 10-month escapade, Harvick won seven times -- twice in Cup, five times in Busch. He also nabbed a top-10 finish in the Winston Cup Series point standings despite competing in one less race than the rest of his top-10 brethren. He also collected Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors and ran away with the Busch Series championship.

That, in fact, could be the most coveted award of all for Harvick himself.

You see, that is what he actually set out to do in 2001 before the abrupt and tragic death of Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

Kevin Harvick won at Texas for his first Busch win of 2001.

"We really accomplished something this year," said Harvick, 26. "And I don't think you'll see anyone else attempt it again. It was really tough. We were tired at the end of the season, but we never lost sight of what we had to accomplish.

"We had 200 employees at RCR behind us and I leaned on them all year long. Our Busch Championship, the Rookie of the Year and the ninth place finish in points is for all of us. I'm really glad we were able to get through this year and accomplish most of our goals."

For his unprecedented efforts, Harvick will be honored Friday during the 2001 Busch Series awards ceremony at Los Angeles' Regent Beverly Wilshire. On the strength of five wins and 20 top-five finishes, Harvick won the championship by 124 points over defending champion Jeff Green.

Harvick opened the year with back-to-back runner-up finishes at Daytona and Rockingham, and five races later, at Texas, broke through with the first victory of his sophomore campaign. Over the next eight races he finished outside the top-10 just twice before winning the inaugural event at Kentucky Speedway.

Three weeks later, he was back in Victory Lane again at Gateway International Raceway. He would win twice more during the next month, at Indianapolis Raceway Park and then at Bristol Motor Speedway.

And while that marked his last win of the year, he didn't falter much. Harvick finished in the top five four times in the final eight events to clinch his first Busch crown.

"This is what we set out to do this year," Harvick said. "Winning the Busch championship was my goal when this year started, and I'm glad for RCR and ACDelco that we could make it happen, despite everything we went through."

Harvick leads the pack in the inaugural series race at Nashville..

Green would have been hard pressed to equal his record-breaking output of 2000, when he tallied six wins and a record 25 top-five finishes in 32 races.

He gave it a solid effort in 2001, winning four races and grabbing 15 top-fives and a series-high 26 top-10s to earn his third-straight top-2 finish in the final standings.

"This year has been amazing for me," Green said. "While we didn't win the championship this year, this is the third year in a row my team has finished second or better in points. We've been on top of our game three years in a row, which is special.

"I'm looking forward to my move to Winston Cup next year, but this team is very special to me. I've made some lifelong friends at ppc Racing and I am very thankful for that."

Jason Keller finished 52 points behind teammate Green in third position after winning once and garnering 14 top-fives, marking his second-straight top-three finish. Keller was the best average finishes, 9.5, on the circuit. He finished a career-high second to Green last season. Just behind Keller stands Greg Biffle, the 2001 Raybestos Rookie of the Year.

Jeff Green celebrates his win in the fall event at Dover.

Other than Harvick, Biffle may have been the most impressive NBS driver in 2001. That particular duo fostered an intriguing rivalry during the year that eventually saw them go nose-to-nose -- and nearly to blows -- at New Hampshire, and saw them have on-track run-ins several times.

Later in the year, NASCAR placed Biffle on probation after he punched Jay Sauter at Richmond. That tenaciousness helped Biffle piece together one of the most impressive rookie campaigns ever. In 33 races, he tallied five wins, including the inaugural event at Nashville Superspeedway, and 16 top-fives.

With Harvick and Green making the jump to Winston Cup full time, Biffle could be the man to beat in 2002. Biffle himself will test the Winston Cup waters as well, running seven selected races before going to Cup full time in 2003.

Despite having not logged a single victory, consistent top-10 finishes garnered Elton Sawyer the fifth-place slot in the overall standings, and handed Tony Raines his first career top-10 finish in sixth-place.

Greg Biffle matched Harvick with five wins.

Sawyer's six top-five finishes combined with 19 top-10s enabled him to edge seventh-place finisher Mike McLaughlin, eighth-place Jimmie Johnson and tenth-place Kenny Wallace, all race winners who finished in the top-10 behind him.

As for Raines, he had four top-fives and 13 top-10s in the No. 33 BACE Motorsports Chevrolet. His teammate, Chad Little, finished ninth in the standings in the No. 74 BACE ride. McLaughlin, meanwhile, finished seventh in a season highlighted by a victory at Talladega.

Johnson enjoyed a fruitful sophomore campaign in the No. 92 Herzog Motorsports Chevy, nabbing four top-fives and nine top-10s, including his first career victory in the inaugural event at Chicagoland Speedway. Wallace finished 10th, having won at Rockingham.

Ryan Newman won a series-high six Bud Poles.

Overall, 17 different drivers took the checkered flag in 2001, just one short of the series record. Four drivers - Biffle, Johnson, Hank Parker Jr. and Ryan Newman - all recorded their first career wins.

It was a landmark year for NASCAR Busch Series racing, what with a new television package, door-to-door competition from Daytona to Homestead and the celebration a brash young champion on the verge of sheer greatness.

Or utter insanity. Take your pick.