Kevin Harvick was known in the beginning of his Cup career as the guy who drove the car that 7 time champion Dale Earnhardt originally drove after his untimely passing in 2001. In his early years in the sport, he has earned a reputation of being a consistent driver, but it was 2010 when Harvick was beginning to make a name for himself in in Cup series. At the beginning of Daytona Speedweeks Kevin Harvick was battling flu like symptoms so that's a fun way to start a season isn't it? Well it isn't the greatest, but he won the Daytona exhibition race for the 2nd year in a row but last year for his team Richard Childress Racing was well miserable. The best car finished in 15th in the points so this is far from over. The 29 team was doing better than they did last year in his Daytona 500 qualifying race though and has a chance to win it to start on the 2nd row of the Great American Race.

https://youtu.be/CUf6XwdmwAY

Plus, bonus footage of an underfunded team of getting in the Daytona 500 lol. So, in the Daytona 500 Harvick would show winning speed early on being up front. This was halted because the race would however get stopped for an hour and 40 minutes for in simple terms the bottom of the track coming apart with 78 laps to go. The green flag would come out once again but 38 laps later the same part of the track came apart, but this time Kevin had the lead. Carl Edwards mentioned in the first red flag that he was worried that it would cause a premature end to the race. The track was going to be repaved the following year but nobody even Harvick who was leading under the 2nd red flag wanted to run all of the laps. The repairs would make Daytona survive so the last 40 shall be done! Harvick would get shuffled in the middle of the pack and didn't have much time to recover but his sheer aggression got him back to the lead and even his spotter Billy O Dea was impressed but all Harvick said was "This is the Daytona 500, I'm going left." That's what it means to win the biggest race of the season and as a matter of fact he won this race in 2007 yet that was also his last Cup points win so the determination is there to return to victory lane at Daytona.

https://youtu.be/9mZaSqMwWvw

After leading 41 laps and a 7th place finish Harvick began the 2010 5th in the points. The winning speed showed up once again at California running up front after starting 6th would race for the lead early on with 4 time defending champion Jimmie Johnson. Things would not be so straight forward however with yellow flag stops at lap 94. First having a brief scare with Jamie McMurray crew Harvick got busted for speeding on pit road. For the next 100 laps Harvick would work his way back into contention for the win. 31 to go and Harvick is 2nd closing in on the race leader while green flag pitstops were occurring while the 48 of Johnson pits and as soon as that happened the caution came out for Brad Keselowski wrecking off of turn 4. Jimmie Johnson basically got a free pitstop because he stays on the lead lap while Harvick and anyone who hasn't pitted yet cycle out behind him! But Harvick refused to quit keeping the pressure on his fellow California native. 3 to go and the 29 was looking to make the move that'd make him a winner on home soil for the first time but a mistake brushing the wall was all it took to lose the win and finish 2nd. At the post race conference, he had this to say to the media about the Jimmie Johnson and that 48 team winning for the 48th time. "Well, they're really good but they're really really lucky to. Um there's no I mean Jimmie is a good friend of mine but there's no getting around how lucky they are. Um you know you don't win 4 championships and do all of the things they done they did a good job today in winning the race. But um.... They have a golden horseshoe stuck up their (expletive) so it's um I mean there's no way to get around that." Well, if it's any consolation to Harvick is that he was the points leader by 19 over his teammate Clint Bowyer. To add a little more salt to the wounds he finished 2nd at Las Vegas again to Jimmie Johnson. However, he extended his lead over Bowyer to 47. After getting a 9th at Atlanta and an 11th in Bristol he was 1st in points new 2nd place driver Matt Kenseth by 1. Going to Martinsville it was the first race of the return of the rear spoiler on the rear of the racecars and unfortunately for Harvick was the first setback of the season. After starting on pole and leading 57 laps early the 29 was forced to the garage from brake trouble and Martinsville is one of if not the last place you want problems with your brakes. Harvick finished the race 100 laps down in 35th. And because of that he now is 4th in the points 61 behind Jimmie Johnson. An unlucky 13th place at Phoenix cost him 51 more points from the top of the standings in 4th position. A 7th in Texas put him to 141 points back behind Johnson now. Talladega was next up and early on in the race Harvick hung out at the back after leading a lap to claim 5 bonus points at lap 5. It was at about 60 to go when Harvick began to make his move to get up to the front of the pack and work his way into the top 10. Fuel however was becoming an issue with a late caution, but Kevin Harvick was along a group of others that stayed out. As cautious however breed more cautions especially late in the race with the intensity rising up more and more as the laps continue to click down to the point where we are in the green white checkered attempts. Harvick got up to 3rd and in this case 3 strikes you're out and now came along the last attempt at a green white checkered with worried crew chiefs on fuel mileage and the win on the line.

https://youtu.be/MK_TEeK5oaw

Boom! What a move there for Kevin Harvick to snap a 115 points winless drought to get his 12th career win in his 331st start in one of the most competitive races EVER with 29 drivers swapping the lead 88 times and the 29 now has 26 points to make up on Jimmie Johnson in the points chase. The RCR crew backed this up with a 3rd at Richmond, 6th at Darlington, 7th at Dover and 11th at Charlotte promoting them back to the championship lead now 29 points ahead of new 2nd place driver Kyle Busch. Now was the tricky triangle aka Pocono which didn't look tricky for Kevin Harvick at the halfway point of the race

https://youtu.be/58wgg1mhqqw

Despite a brilliant move he would fall back to the bottom of the top 5 where he ran for most of the race. After strategy came into play Harvick was on the move trying to recover positions but it kind of backfired on him.

https://youtu.be/P5J4f78qWds

That isn't the first time Harvick has had controversy in a season and every time this occurred the highest he finished was 4th, but he finished 10th or worse 4 times in points though so this could be really bad for the points leader. He would struggle at Michigan with a 19th place finish. Sonoma and New Hampshire he shook off the bad performances with 3rd and 5th place finishes. With struggles of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin allowed his lead to grow to 105 now over Jimmie Johnson. A win 7 top 5s and 12 top 10s in the first 17 races pretty good and consistent right? Especially after Harvick's 2009 year when he only had 5 top 5s and 9 top 10s right? Well as good as that and a 472 point gap from the chase cutoff it wasn't quite good enough for the chase for crew chief Gil Martin. He thinks that the 29 team needs to loosen things up and start gambling cause they'd be on the back foot if the chase began right now so after a qualifying session that was rained out gave Harvick pole cause in the NASCAR rulebook the points standings determined where you start. Kevin dominated early on but after taking 2 tires on lap 17 he would eventually fall all the way back to the mid 20s. Once 4 tires were back on the Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet, he'd eventually work his way back up front. He would run up there with his teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton. Typically, in a restrictor plate there is a big crash which eliminated a lot of the contenders for the win. But it still wasn't easy after the RCR cars of Bowyer and Harvick worked their way by Jeff Gordon. But one last caution meant that the win is still up for grabs.

https://youtu.be/wbm0onM5ZCQ

After leading 28 of 166 laps for the first time since 2006 Kevin Harvick has won multiple races and he wanted to celebrate by having some of the pavement that on the track since 1978. History of a crown jewel racetrack right there lol! This allowed Harvick to get a huge 212 point advantage over the 24 car. At Chicagoland though his lead would be chopped in over half after going to the garage changing his fuel pump and fuel cable after fuel pressure problems. At the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis Harvick had a car capable for a top 5 but was able to have a shot at the win with a late 2 tire strategy call. Harvick would actually grab the lead with 15 to go after a restart. However, 5 laps later he'd just get outdone on the next restart and was left to fight for 2nd. Pocono brought along a 4th place result and Watkins Glen would have been 6th but a flat tire on the last lap dropped him to 11th. At Michigan the Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet was fast from the start running in the top 5 for most of the race. He really showed his hand when he gets past Tony Stewart with 89 to go and he would hardly look back ever since. However, in order to win Harvick still had to show off what he could do from 6fh position after the top 4 stayed out and lost a spot in his fuel only pitstop. Still he would muscle his way up to 4th and 1 last caution tightened everything up, Harvick jumped his way up to 2nd and looked like he had Stewart right where he wanted him but Denny Hamlin drove into the lead. Hakuna Matata, it means no worries especially for Kevin Harvick or his fans when he made his winning pass with 11 laps to spare to claim his 3rd win of the and he clinched his spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. So now that he is guaranteed to be in the chase now all that matters is winning to claim all of the bonus points he could to have the best advantage in the points seeding. Since he ended Bristol, Atlanta, and Richmond 14th, 33rd, and 9th it meant he will begin tied for 3rd with Kyle Busch and 30 points behind Denny Hamlin. When the chase began though it was a little bit difficult at New Hampshire. In the beginning of the race Harvick was stuck in the middle of the pack originally starting 27th but most of the year this is how Harvick qualified, and he would work his way up to the front. But at least for the time being he does not have the car he needs to do that. Halfway through the race and the 29 was in 13th place but a 16.6 second pitstop would drop him to 18th, for the man nicknamed "Happy" Harvick had some not so happy remarks on the radio. "That's 2 weeks in a row, we haven't had our (expletive) together. You got about 5 spots that we just worked all day to try to get by, now I gotta do it again. We can't even run in the top 15 if we have pitstops like that we come in behind the 18 and he's 7 spots in front of us. Pretty terrible day to be honest with you. We had 2 pit calls that were the wrong way, bad pitstops, sucked all (expletive) weekend." And to think that before the race at Michigan when Harvick won he said he basically felt like he was on vacation with a giant points lead and how strong he and his team are performing and now vacation is over. Still a long way to go though in this race where plenty can still happen, and it did with a lot of chasers. First was a caution after non chaser Mark Martin crashed in turn 2, next championship contenders Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards get together sending the 11 car spinning, then an incident involving chasers Jeff Burton pinching Kurt Busch down spinning the blue deuce and then Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson spun trying to avoid it, and finally Matt Kenseth wrecked in turn 1 after getting turned by non contender Brad Keselowski. Oh, and then Jimmie Johnson would have to lose a lap after pitting for a loose wheel. Kevin Harvick is now 7th and after Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart ran out of gas the 29 finished 5th. After what was a race when the setup was somewhat missed, I bet you Harvick might be a little happy to maintain his 3rd position points 45 behind Denny Hamlin. That wouldn't remain there long due to a post-race penalty, not from Kevin Harvick but at the expense of his teammate Clint Bowyer for an illegal. Now he is 2nd heading to Dover and oh boy that could be huge for Kevin's teammate so team owner RCR is going to appeal the penalty and hope it works. If it doesn't than Bowyer will be penalized 150 points and then loose his crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief and Chad Hanley for 6 races. The Richard Childress Racing organization as a whole was not too happy about this and they also are being criticized by Denny Hamlin who basically accused them of basically cheating for months and the drivers Harvick in particular showed his displeasure.

https://youtu.be/P-6hzmprrAI

Well, if anything is to take from this, I'd that Harvick's criticism about his pit crew is the last thing on his mind. It reminds me like a family functional or dysfunctional no matter how much you fight whenever you fight you will not allow any outside party talk smack about them. Harvick would not be so happy with a 15th place finish after losing the handle of his car now costing him even more points now placed in 5th 65 behind Hamlin who probably is the last guy he wants leading the chase. The 29 would bounce back at the 3rd race of the chase climbing up to 3rd in points 30 behind new leader Jimmie Johnson by finishing 3rd and leading 16 laps in the process. In California Harvick began in 21tst and worked his way up to the top 10 but his race would get an unwanted increase in difficulty after a speeding penalty in the middle of green flag pitstops. He might be in 28th but he actually was able to stay on the lead lap. With the yellow coming out 20 laps later it tightened everything up so Harvick can salvage a 7th place. 54 points now separated Kevin from Johnson now. Charlotte was just an up and down night, at one point the 29 was a top 10 car. But other times he was a top 15 car and that is not what needs to happen to win this championship. They kind of missed the setup in Dover and it looks like the same at the halfway point of the chase. Harvick was a little bit annoyed inside the car saying basically that track position is key, and they keep falling towards 15th from either sluggish pitstops, choosing 4 tires while others took 2. While finishing 8th is a consistent effort the 29 is continuing to fall back now 77 points behind the 48. So, they definitely need to pick up the pace or they will get left behind. 5 races left in the season and at this point we start to have an idea of who will be real contenders in the championship. Harvick is one of them and in his RCR team has the best chance to win the title for the organization since Dale Earnhardt. Richard Childress felt like a change was needed to put their best foot forward by swapping Clint Bowyer's and Kevin Harvick's pit crews. The 33 team have had VERY little mistakes all season and the 29 from time to time have made some errors and nobody wants to have mistakes, one of the drivers up on top of the list is Kevin Harvick who has been known despite his "happy" nickname that he will hardly tolerate mistakes on pit road. In fact one time in a truck race, he participated in for his own team known as Kevin Harvick Incorporated his crew made a massive mistake in the pits late so he told them in the heat of the moment that they could come in Monday to pick up their pink slips. So we shall see how this works. Anyway, onwards to the Martinsville race Harvick would show the speed he showed in the spring after starting 36th. He would get up to the front and be a real contender for the win. Under a cycle of yellow flag pitstops at lap 171 the Harvick was able to lead a lap for those valuable 5 bonus points. He was doing everything he needed to do by running up front going up against mainly his teammate Jeff Burton for the victory. Maybe a little too much for comfort. On a restart with 143 to go the two teammates were racing hard to get to the preferred bottom of the racetrack and take the lead away from Dale Earnhardt Jr so when the caution came out for a turn 2 wreck Harvick hit the back of Burton's car, and this is what number 31 had to say "I have done nothing wrong. And I WILL NOT tolerate it! I have done nothing wrong. the hole was there, I filled the hole. I will not put up with it. I'm a good teammate and I'm not gonna take him running into me." His crew chief Todd Berrier said "Copy that!" Now this is the conversation over the 29 radio. Harvick said "I'm telling you Gil he's out of mulligans. I mean he's done it to me-that's the third time now. Did it at Indy did it at Loudon done it here." Gil simply replied, "10 4." Oh boy, Typical Martinsville even teammates aren't immune to getting mad at each other. So, after that Harvick went on to take the lead once again. As usual in these races it's not so straight forward almost every single time something happens to spice things up. On the final restart with 98 laps to go Harvick would drive his way into the lead with Burton and championship rival Denny Hamlin behind. The longest green flag run would end the race which was a little bit too long for Burton now leaving the 11 FedEx Toyota filling up his mirror. Kevin did everything he could to keep the lead, but he couldn't fend Denny off and eventually finished 3rd while Hamlin won the race while Johnson finished 5th. 62 points is what separates Harvick from the leader now. However, the battle for the title had another major hurdle that could easily turn the whole picture upside down in regards of the championship battle, and that was Talladega a fitting track to be raced on Halloween day with the fear of getting your title bid ended by being involved in "The Big One". His approach is to run up front and that's what he did maximizing the opportunity to lead all the laps he could while Johnson and Hamlin mainly hung out at the back. One benefit for running up front is having a guarantee of not falling off the lead pack like the 11 did and he quickly lost a lap after losing the draft by hanging around at the back. Placing the ball right into the hands of the 29 camp putting one of their rivals a lap down and the 48 hasn't led a lap to gain those valuable 5 bonus points. Harvick is applying all the pressure he can with his aggression and Gil Martin also wants to stay as long as possible before the restart to keep Johnson from leading laps by staying out then pitting a lap before the restart. No stone is being left unturned for the 29 and it was working to near perfection. As the closing stages are almost upon us Jimmie is still hanging at the back and Hamlin is still a lap down or at least until lap 141 when the 11 got the free pass. Still has a lot of traffic to come through while Harvick actually go damage in a wreck! The nose of his car has some damage after the 47 spun right in front of him. It wasn't that bad though like Kevin initially believed just with some small repairs and 4 fresh tires and he'll be fine. With the power of the great equalizer that is the draft Harvick got his way back up towards the front and an opportunity came to win the race to gain some precious points with 3 laps to go.

https://youtu.be/-lqvfgid_N0

For a constellation prize in the big picture Kevin did win the points day now only 38 points behind with 3 races remaining in 2010. The next race was Texas and the 29 started mid pack like they normally did and worked their way up to the front towards the top 10. Gil Martin at one point put 2 tires on Harvick to help gain track position at lap 50. However, when they took 4 tires about 15 laps later others took 2 tires leaving questions from Kevin and car owner Richard Childress. They thought they just gave up everything they just gained and shouldn't lose that much track position. However, Gil reassured them that a long green run hasn't happened yet which was a normal thing at Texas. In the end they got back up to the top 10 and even up to the top 5 with championship rival Denny Hamlin. Valuable points were being gained on the 4 time defending champion Jimmie Johnson who was at one point 15th after his pit crew has had an abysmal day in the pits. Crew chief of the 48 Chad Knaus even decided to swap pit crews with Jeff Gordon after the 24 car was wrecked out of the race. Still looks like another very productive day in the points being as close as 19 points behind the lead getting the car faster and faster. Except it went in the wrong direction with the checkered flag in sight with 36 laps to go Harvick said the car was junk. After running 2nd, the 29 has fallen behind the 11. A yellow then comes out meaning Kevin now had a lot of pressure from behind, even after the caution stop the Shell Pennzoil car was a shell of it's former self. Trying to get all he could Harvick even smacked the wall coming off turn 4 making matters worse. "Killed it" I think we're in trouble guys." A great productive day has gone bad and it's bad enough that Hamlin is leading but now the 48 has gotten pasted Kevin Harvick. After a last ditch effort though a 6th place finish is all that was on the table for the 29 crew. Johnson finished 9th so Kevin gained points on him but now there was a new points leader in town, race winner Denny Hamlin by 59 over Harvick. the penultimate track left on the schedule was Phoenix for the 29 which started 29th the worse of the title trio. Still, they always find their way towards the front but one problem, the 11 was just flat out dominating while Kevin was in 4th. The championship is only gonna get harder with fewer chances left but there are chances to lose it and it might have just happened on pit road with 88 to go under a caution flag pitstop, originally, he came out 5th but now has to start at the back because of a missing lugnut. Oh man with this championship being as close as it is you CAN'T afford mistakes like this, and a major blow might have just happened to Kevin Harvick. Usually, Harvick and his crew chief Gil Martin might have some harsh words, but all Gil said we'll be fine. The 29 now has a lot of cars to pass with so little time but another quick caution which is somewhat rare for Phoenix at the time was known for long green runs allowed Harvick to pit and top off his fuel and now came make it the rest of the way, but the confidence wasn't quite there for Kevin who said "We're just never gonna make it back through this traffic. I mean there's just no way.' His crew chief replied " We're gonna make it back. Lots of cautions left to go. If it goes green we can make it from right there, they can't make it either. All Harvick said after was "Better hope for green then." Now without having to start all the way at the rear he can pass cars for actual position. Especially with time still running out and being told nobody ahead can make it he will be driving his heart out and his patience will be very little. 65 to go Harvick got to 15th but kind of got trapped behind his teammate getting lose which only added to the frustration "That cost me 2 spots appreciate it." then only about a lap later to scream "Tell him to get the (expletive) out of the way!" After more laps continue to pass by after some hard driving a still angry driver just said how horrible that chevy drove in traffic. Spotter Billy O'Dea this time took a chance to keep Harvick motivated "Never can tell what's gonna happen, the 99 is all over the back of the 11 he's blocking the (expletive) out of him. He might end up in the fence here you never know." At this point Harvick is the biggest Carl Edwards fan on the track especially if he can take away some points that Denny can't grab. With 47 laps to go Hamlin did lose the lead to Carl but Kevin is still 12th, and he knows he can't be there "There goes the day boys!" said Harvick. Gil once again being the cheerleader "It'll be alright it's gonna come around." even the boss Richard Childress said "Keep digging like we've done all year." The laps continue to click down now with 20 to go and the 29 might even have some fuel concerns of his own! The team confirms to him though they have enough gas literally to get to the checkered flag, no more no less. There were some drivers that were gonna gamble on making it to the end like Edwards and even Jimmie Johnson who was historically bad at fuel mileage but championship leader Denny Hamlin pits as well as Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton. Some drivers have also backed off to make sure they make it to the end of the race. Jimmie Johnson with 2 laps to go is still out in 5th and running still looks like he's just going slower to save every last drop and coming to the checkered flag Johnson makes it! 48 finishes 5th the 29 is in 6th while Denny Hamlin after dominating the race and making that last stop with 14 to go gets 12th! The relief is real after looking like the championship was thrown away with that lugnut issue might have been a blessing in disguise putting Harvick in position to gain points on the 11. "That's why you never give up" says Richard Childress and that was definitely a championship saving moment going into the final race giving them a realistic chance to become Cup champions going to Homestead 46 points behind Denny Hamlin. RCR is definitely gonna go in with everything they have with a brand new car brand new engine with all the latest bells and whistles on, they are ready to try to win this race and the championship. It started off like any race with a not so good qualifying session but with great race pace and with Denny Hamlin spinning early and damaging his splitter it swung more in Harvick's favor with the 11 struggling. Plus, Johnson is having an on and off day in the pits. Harvick though has gotten his way up to the top 5 with the laps in 2010 winding down the championship is still up in the air with everyone in the top 10 with 79 to go and gets the lead off pit road during caution flag stops! 5 bonus points for the championship which could be key for this championship decider, but things aren't all sunshine because Kevin Harvick has to start at the back for speeding entering pit road! And you know what that means? Kevin doesn't get credit for leading a lap and the 29 aren't happy campers. Harvick reacts "What?! No way we were too fast entering! I came in on the 56!" Gil stunned replies "We were behind 2 cars on their donkey coming in! They're saying it's the 4th stall coming in heck we're right on the 56!" "You need to check it Billy, I just don't think that's right." Argued Harvick. NASCAR measures the drivers pit road speed by time over distance and they also are given a 5 mile per hour buffer which in this case when the pit road speed is 45 MPH it's actually 50. So, it really goes down to a tenth of a mile per hour. Martin frustrated says "Came all the way down here for an end of the show thing and this is how we get it. Great" "There's no way Gil. There is absolutely no way you could go from a 49.6 to 49.4 to 49.1 to a 50.something I mean that's just them doing what they do best" Harvick rants. The penalty stands as the Shell/Pennzoil car has to drive through a pack of cars which is made easier when a swift caution came out after his penalty. Kevin knew he had to get by cars fast which he did but kinda lost patience a little when he had a run-in Kyle Busch and the two of them got together which ended up crashing the 18. Kevin claimed he pulled right in front of him and later said Busch raced him like a clown all race while Kyle believed it wasn't necessary but in the long run it didn't help Harvick who in the end couldn't win the championship missing out by 41 points to Jimmie Johnson. While it was disappointing for RCR and Harvick in one of their best chances to win the championship since Dale Earnhardt, little did we know that in 2012 Harvick announced that in 2014 he would leave the team for Stewart Haas Racing. The move Kevin made would work out to provide him his first championship in 2014 ironically against the RCR car of Ryan Newman. While RCR hasn't been much of the same since Kevin Harvick has been on another level flat out dominating, winning races, and competing for championships. Now as of 2022 he is 10th all time on the wins list, after 2010 Kevin had a total of 14 Cup wins and now, he has 60 wins. But still people wonder, what if he didn't miss the setup at Dover? What if he was able to maximize chances at victory in Martinsville or perhaps Talladega? And maybe what if he got a better finish in Texas? Or as The Iceberg once said, "What if in 2010 Kevin Harvick captured his missing ring?"