A New Star On the Horizon?
Dateline: 03/22/01
When Richard Childress Racing announced that Kevin Harvick would take over the late Dale Earnhardt's ride for the remainder of the season, may skeptics argued that he was being brought along too fast and it was like giving up on the rest of the season. Well, Sunday, March 11, he proved them wrong. Harvick outran Jeff Gordon in one of the closest finishes in recent memory to take the victory at Las Vegas. Some people say that it was beginner's luck. Some speculate that it was a mystical connection to Dale Earnhardt, and some give all the credit to the team. To a degree they all have a point.
I'm sure that thoughts of, "What would Dale Earnhardt do if he were in this situation?" ran through his head, and I'm sure that the desire to please his old boss played a part in his victory, but in the end, it's hard to directly attribute his winning to Dale Earnhardt. Perhaps then, it was the car or the team.
It's not very many rookie drivers who get the chance to shine in the one of the best prepared car in NASCAR. It could be argued that any driver qualified to drive a Winston Cup car could win if they had the support and backing of Childress and the Earnhardt team behind them. When you have the best crew, the best equipment and the best support available, how could you lose?
However it wasn't the car or the team that made the move to take the lead and it wasn't the car or the team that held off Gordon at the finish line. It was Kevin Harvick alone. This young driver showed that he has the stuff that champions are made of, and with the support of the Childress operation, he took his opportunity to prove his skill in only his third Winston Cup event.
How could anyone doubt the skill of someone who in the Busch Series last year placed in the top ten 50% of the time, to take Rookie of the Year honors. For the season he placed third, and that was after missing the second race of the season. You don't do that without having some real talent. In 32 races, Harvick finished in the top five on nine different occasions, including three trips to victory lane. These statistics alone should prove that he deserved a Winston Cup ride. It's tragic that he got it because of the death of his mentor, but his record shows that he was well qualified to move up.
Will Kevin Harvick be the next Dale Earnhardt? Of course not, nobody could replace "The Intimidator". But I predict that he will be a force to be reckoned with this season and for many to come. He has all of the credentials. Now that he's tasted success, I predict he'll be hungry for more, and with the memory of Dale Earnhardt to live up to, the chances are good that he'll find a way to satisfy that appetite.
