Kevin Harvick Incorporated

Kevin Harvick Incorporated

Owner(s)	Kevin Harvick DeLana Harvick
Base	Kernersville, North Carolina, United States
Series	Camping World Truck Series Nationwide Series
Car numbers	Truck Series: 2, 4, 6, 33, 92 Nationwide Series: 2, 4, 9, 33, 77, 92
Race drivers	Kevin Harvick Tony Stewart Elliott Sadler Ron Hornaday, Jr. Ron Fellows Bobby Labonte Clint Bowyer Paul Menard Cale Gale Austin Dillon Burney Lamar Nelson Piquet, Jr. Tony Raines
Sponsors	Kroger Nabisco Camping World OneMain Financial Rheem Sherwin-Williams Wisk Dollar General
Manufacturer	Chevrolet
Opened	2002
Closed	2011
Career
Drivers' Championships	Truck Series: 2007, 2009
Race victories	Truck Series: 43 Nationwide Series: 10

Kevin Harvick Incorporated, colloquially referred to as KHI was a NASCAR team owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick and his wife DeLana, who herself is the daughter of a former Busch Series driver, John Linville. The team owned cars in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, and ARCA RE/MAX Series.

The team's Nationwide Series equipment was originally purchased from the former BACE Motorsports and Andy Petree Racing teams. It was announced in September 2011 that KHI will merge with Richard Childress Racing beginning in 2012, with KHI no longer fielding a vehicle in any of the top three NASCAR divisions.

Nationwide Series

Car #2 history

This team ran full-time in 2011 with former Sprint Cup driver Elliott Sadler driving and Ernie Cope as the crew chief. The team struggled the early portion of the season, but soon found momentum and battled with Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for the Nationwide Series points lead. Despite the #2 team going winless in 2011, Sadler finished 2nd in points. The team returned in 2012 under the RCR banner.

Car #4 history

For 2009, Harvick planned a one-car effort, but with additional sponsorship for the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen from Schick Canada, J. R. Fitzpatrick drove the second car at Watkins Glen, carrying the #4 for KHI's second team. Tony Stewart drove the 4 in the 2010 season opener at Daytona, winning the race with Oreo/Ritz Crackers sponsorship.

Tony Stewart drove the #4 Oreo/Ritz Crackers Chevrolet Impala once again at Daytona in 2011.^[1] He won his fourth consecutive season opening race with a last lap pass on teammate Clint Bowyer to score his 2nd victory in a row with the #4 and his fourth for KHI. Harvick drove at Talladega, Daytona, and Kansas in the #4 with Armour Vienna Sausages, OneMain Financial, and Hunt Brothers Pizza sponsoring respectively.

Car #9 history

In July 2011, Tony Stewart raced a fourth KHI car at Daytona with clothing brand Tapout sponsoring. Stewart tried to sweep both Nationwide races held at Daytona, but was caught up in a late wreck.

Car #33 history

Harvick racing the #33 with RoadLoans sponsorship in 2007

KHI's #33 team was formed when Andy Petree Racing's #33 Busch team was shut down halfway through the 2004 season. Kevin Harvick purchased the team and it made its debut in the 19th race of the season at Chicagoland Speedway with Clint Bowyer behind the wheel. He started 12th and finished in the 10th position. He drove again at Darlington Raceway and finished 15th. Tony Raines ended the season at the Ford 300 with a 35th-place finish after being involved in a crash.

Tony Stewart won the team's first NASCAR Busch Series race in 2005 by winning the Hershey's Take 5 300 at Daytona International Speedway in February. Stewart and Raines shared the 33 that season, with Stewart running races with Old Spice sponsorship, and Raines with Yard Man/Outdoor Channel backing. Raines collected nine top-ten finishes and finished 20th in the points despite only running 23 races. Stewart's lone win in 10 races came at Daytona and had only three top-five finishes. KHI development driver Burney Lamar joined the 33 for a pair of races as well, his best finish a 34th at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2002 Canadian driver Ron Fellows befriended Harvick and asked for a ride. Harvick agreed to put Fellows in some Busch Series races in the #33 Chevy on several occasions during the years. Fellows performed well on the road courses and had some nice performances on some oval tracks. The last time he raced for Kevin Harvick Inc. was in 2007 at Watkins Glen. In 2006 Ron Fellows asked Harvick for permission to leave the team after 4 years of driving for the corporation, but Fellows found no other Busch series rides available for 2007. Kevin Harvick asked Fellows to drive on occasion for KHI in 2007 for one more year and Fellows agreed. In 2007 NASCAR put Ron Fellows' favorite track; Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the NBS list. As a Gilles Villeneuve fan, Ron Fellows begged Kevin to let him drive in the #33 for Montreal. The deal was made. At Montreal in the NBS Ron Fellows almost won the first NBS race there. However on a restart Kevin Harvick retaliated against a close friend of Fellows; road course ringer Scott Pruett and Pruett's crash collected Fellows, KHI teammate Ron Hornaday Jr., Jeff Burton, Scott Wimmer, and Clint Bowyer. The crash ended Fellows' hopes to win the race but he recovered to end up in 4th place. Ron Fellows contended victory at Watkins Glen the next week, but scraped across the wall on the final 2 laps to end up in 24th place. Ron Fellows resigned from KHI after 2007 but promised to remain friends with Harvick.

The 2006 again started strong as Stewart again drove the #33 to a win at Daytona with teammate Lamar finishing second in the #77, marking the first time that the Linville family had fielded a winner in the series, dating to its inaugural year. A variety of drivers competed in the #33 during the 2006 season, including Stewart, Harvick, Hornaday, and development drivers Sean Caisse and Aaron Fike. The team finished tenth in the standings at the season. Harvick, Stewart, Raines, and development driver Cale Gale shared the #33 Chevrolet in 2007, with sponsorship coming from Old Spice, Camping World, and RoadLoans.com. Harvick, Gale, and Hornaday split the 33 full-time in 2008, scoring fifteen finishes of eighth or better between them. The 33 returns in 2009 with sponsors Rheem, Jimmy John's, Armour Vienna Sausages and Copart. The 33 was driven by Harvick, Stewart, Ryan Newman, Ron Hornaday Jr. along with Gale and Kelly Bires in one race deals. Kevin Harvick finally drove his own equipment to victory in the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 21, 2009. This would be the first time he scored a victory in his own equipment after trying for 5 years since the inception of his race team during 2004. The driver lineup changed for 2010 with Harvick, Hornaday, Mike Bliss, Elliott Sadler and Road Ringer Max Papis at Road America and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with Harvick taking 3 victories at Vegas, Nashville, and Richmond.

For 2011, the #33 carried dual sponsorship from both Rheem and Menards, with Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon, and new RCR driver Paul Menard splitting the driving duties. Former Red Bull driver Scott Speed intended to drive at the May Iowa race, but his commitment to Dragon Racing for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 prevented him from competing. Speed would drive the car at Montreal and Max Papis drove at Road America. Truck Series driver David Mayhew would make his series debut at the fall Iowa race. The 33 team would finish fourth in owners points, but would go winless.^[2] The 33 team will be transferred over to RCR for 2012.

Car #77 history

KHI first entered its second Busch Series team in the 2004 fall race at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Tony Stewart piloted the #92 McDonald's/Powerade Chevrolet. As a co-promotion in the event, team owner Kevin Harvick drove the #29 Powerade/McDonald's Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

The team returned in 2005 renumbered as the #83 to run five races. Burney Lamar attempted the car's first race at Nashville Superspeedway but failed to qualify for the event. Wally Dallenbach, Jr. made the car's first race at Watkins Glen International, where he finished nineteenth in the Mr. Clean Auto-Dry Wash car. Tony Stewart drove the car at Richmond with Old Spice sponsoring and Tony Raines drove the car with Cub Cadet funding at Kansas, finishing 40th and 17th, respectively.

For 2006, the team signed Dollar General as a sponsor and switched to the #77 with Lamar driving and competing for NASCAR Rookie of the Year. He opened the season with a runner-up finish at Daytona, and had two additional top-tens and led the Rookie of the Year standings until summer. During the race weekend at Kansas in 2006, Harvick announced he had removed Lamar from the #77 and hired 2000 Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte to drive the car for the rest of the season. Labonte, Harvick, and Kertus Davis were scheduled share the 77 for the 2007 season. Labonte brought the number 77 to its first victory at Talladega on April 28, 2007. Davis was later released, with Ron Hornaday Jr. filling in for races that Davis was scheduled to drive for the team, after Davis did not crack the top 30 in his five starts in the #77. In 2008 Cale Gale drove the car in three races with sponsorship from VFW and Rheem.

Camping World Truck Series

Truck #2 history

The #2 truck originally ran as a second truck to the #6 in 2004 for a pair of races as the #92. Harvick drove with sponsorship from Snap-On Tools and GM Goodwrench sponsoring, with Harvick finished in the top-five in both races. It ran again in 2005 for two races with Harvick and another two with Lamar. Harvick had the best finish of fifth. Tony Stewart attempted the race at Richmond, but, surprisingly, failed to qualify for the race, despite winning the past two Richmond truck races, mainly from NASCAR's new all-exempt tour policy.

The truck in 2007 was used for most of the season, running a Part-Time Schedule with a variety of drivers, from KHI developmental driver, Cale Gale to Richard Childress Racing Nextel Cup drivers, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer in the #2. For the 2008 season, Jack Sprague was signed on to pilot the #2 truck Full Time with sponsorship from American Commercial Lines. However, Sprague was unable to find victory lane and was released on October 8. Harvick, Gale, and Ryan Newman shared this truck for the remainder of the season. Newman drove this truck to victory lane in the final fall race at Atlanta with a late pass on Ron Hornaday Jr.

Former motocross champion Ricky Carmichael was signed to KHI in 2009, which changed its number to #4 out of deference to Carmichael, who raced No. 4 for most of his career. Monster Energy Drink sponsored the truck. Carmichael was caught up in an accident in the season opener. The team rebounded and scored a better finish at the Auto Club Speedway. Carmichael was set to make 14 of the 25 Camping World Truck Series races, with J. R. Fitzpatrick filling out the rest of the schedule. Carmichael and Monster Energy Drink left KHI at the end of the season to race for Turner Motorsports.

In 2010, the truck returned to being the 2 with Harvick driving, along with Elliott Sadler, Clint Bowyer, Ken Schrader, and Shelby Howard sharing the duties. The 2 team garnered 5 wins, 3 by Harvick (Atlanta, Martinsville, Gateway), 1 by Clint Bowyer (Phoenix), and 1 by Sadler (Pocono). In addition the team finished with 11 top fives and 16 top tens.^[3] The team finished 5th in the final owners points.^[3] For 2011, Bowyer, Sadler, and Harvick primarily drove the 2 truck, and Cale Gale returned for six races with Rheem on board. The team would capture 7 wins, with Bowyer winning at Phoenix and Kansas, Harvick won 3 in a row at Pocono, Michigan, and Bristol, Ron Hornaday, Jr. drove the truck for 3 races late in the season, winning at Kentucky and Las Vegas, while Harvick won at Texas to easily take the Owners Championship. For 2012, the team was absorbed by Richard Childress Racing.

Truck #8 history

The #8 truck originally ran as a third truck in 2009 for four races as the #2. In 2009, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick finished with four top fives in the four starts, with Kevin Harvick winning in Martinsville. Kevin Harvick Inc. signed Nelson Piquet Jr. to drive this truck Full Time in 2011.^[4] Nelson will be running NASCAR Rookie of the Year. This is one of the first times the 8 truck has run since 1997 when Joe Nemechek's brother John Nemechek was killed. In 2011, Piquet ran full-time with sponsors Qualcomm, Autotrac, Bozzano, Jontex and others. Piquet would finish 10th in his inaugural NASCAR season, but came runner up to Joey Coulter for rookie of the year honors. This truck was bought out by Eddie Sharp Racing for 2012.

Truck #6 history

The #6 truck was Kevin Harvick Inc.'s first ever truck. It was built in 2001 when Harvick started his self-owned team for 2002 modeled after RCR and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Initially the company was called Kevin Harvick Motorsports, but it was renamed to KHI in later 2002. In its first race it was driven by Rick Carelli and finished in 5th at Daytona. In its second race at Darlington it finished in 4th place. At Martinsville, Harvick intentionally spun Coy Gibbs causing NASCAR to park the team for the balance of the event. When Harvick lied to reporters, his sponsors and fans; about not intentionally crashing Gibbs, this led to a suspension from the cup race the next morning, a $25,000 fine and a 25 points loss for the truck series. Following this incident Harvick did not race the next event at Gateway to make amends. Later that year, Harvick won the team's first win at Phoenix in autumn and the next year the #6 team was folded into the #33 team (see below.)

Truck #33 history

The 33 truck in 2007

The #33 truck was KHI's first venture into NASCAR. It debuted as the #6 Twizzler/PayDay/Sonic Drive-In Chevrolet Silverado in a partnership between the Harvicks and Rick Carelli in 2001. Harvick started fourth and finished second at Richmond International Raceway. Carelli drove the team's next race at the 2002 Florida Dodge Dealers 250 and finished fifth. Harvick competed in five races and picked up his first career Truck win at Phoenix International Raceway.

In 2002 Canadian driver Ron Fellows asked Kevin Harvick for a ride. Fellows drove for KHI for over 50 races in the #33 chevy. The most recent time Ron Fellows raced in the #33 chevy was at Montreal in 2007 when he drove the #33 for the Busch series race.

In 2003, Harvick ran an additional six races and won once again at Phoenix. Other drivers drove for the team that year were Ed Berrier, Brandon Miller, and Randy LaJoie. Miller had the best finish of eighth at Mesa Marin Raceway. GM Goodwrench climbed aboard as the team's first primary sponsor, and Matt Crafton was hired away from ThorSport Racing as the team's driver. Crafton posted six top-five finishes and finished fifth in points, but left at the end of the season to return to his previous ride. He was replaced by two-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr., who captured a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway and was named the series' Most Popular Driver. At the end of 2005, KHI switched numbers with Roush Fenway Racing to become the #33, with the #6 going to Roush Fenway. Hornaday Jr. began the year unsponsored but won at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway and finished seventh in points after obtaining sponsorship from Allstate Employer Services. He began 2007 with new sponsorship from Camping World, picked up four victories, and won the 2007 Craftsman Truck Series championship. In 2008, Hornaday won six times but finished second in the championship standings. In 2009 he'd win his fourth championship, a week before the last race of the season.

In 2010, the 33 team found itself in a slump. Due to the Food and Drug Administration passing a new rule that bans the advertisement of tobacco products, Longhorn dropped its sponsorship mid season, forcing the 33 to run with one race deals until E-Z-GO signed on with a few races remaining. The 33 team brushed off the bad luck with a win at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis where he would hold off Kyle Busch. Hornaday Jr. won again at Martinsville and ended up 7th in points.

For 2011, Hornaday returned to the 33 team and won early in the year at Texas. However, the team struggled midway through the season and lost ground in the points. After Harvick had Hornaday switch over to the 2 truck, Cale Gale would take over the 33 for 2 races while Mike Wallace would drive at Talladega and win his first Truck race since 2000. Hornaday returned to the 33 late in the season, but was knocked out of the championship hunt at Texas by Kyle Busch. The 33 was driven by Cale Gale full-time in 2012 with Eddie Sharp Racing fielding the truck.

Sale and reorganization

In September 2011, it was announced that KHI would cease to exist following that season, with its teams and equipment being absorbed or bought by other organizations. Harvick's Cup team Richard Childress Racing restarted its Nationwide Series program by merging it with that of KHI, moving the #2 team of Elliott Sadler which would finish second in points and the flagship #33 which Harvick would continue to drive to the RCR banner.^[5] Kevin Harvick's truck program was primarily sold to Eddie Sharp Racing, acquiring the #8 truck and #33 truck.^[6] While Nelson Piquet, Jr. moved to Turner Scott Motorsports, development driver Cale Gale and longtime sponsor Rheem went with the #33 to ESR,^[7] winning the 2012 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.^[8] Harvick's good friend and most successful driver Ron Hornaday, Jr. moved on to Joe Denette Motorsports (now NTS Motorsports), which received equipment and support from KHI, for 2012 and 2013 driving their #9 truck.^[9] Harvick continued to drive NTS's 14 truck in a partial schedule in 2013, and NTS also moved into the former KHI shop prior to the season.^[10]

According to Harvick, the sale of the team overall was so he could focus winning a Cup championship. For Xfinity Series program specifically, Harvick stated that the similarity between them and the Cup cars (same chassis and similar bodies) made the costs and resource requirements too great for a non-Cup-affiliated team to function.^[11] Kevin Harvick Incorporated currently operates as a sports marketing and management firm, which includes MMA fighters as well as former teammate Jeff Burton.^[12]

References

External links

• Official Website
• Kevin Harvick Owner Statistics