When you do what you love it’s not work. And Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) is a labour of love for Kevin and DeLana Harvick.
Starting a race team in Kevin’s first year of NASCAR premier-level Sprint Cup series is not something that’s expected, but with DeLana as his partner in life and business they’ve accomplished results while establishing a firm hold on the future.
Kevin Harvick Inc.’s launch occurred in the driver’s first full year in Sprint Cup, as DeLana told Auto123.com: “KHI started because Kevin had been unsuccessful in winning a truck race. We made our first KHI Truck Series start in Richmond in 2001 and came up .006 second short of winning the race. That really lit the fuse for both of us and further fuelled our interest in team ownership.”
Harvick, who drives for Richard Childress Racing, was intending to make a part-time debut in Sprint Cup while racing full-time in the Nationwide series before the season began in 2001.
But no one could have foreseen the tragic death of Childress’ No. 1 driver, Dale Earnhardt Sr at the season opening race at Daytona. Harvick was thrust full-time into driving, and yet found the time to start his and DeLana’s team.
From that start in 2001 the team entered the Truck Series and then moved up to Nationwide series. KHI driver Ron Hornaday, Jr. took Camping World Truck title in 2007 and 2009. And Hornaday was voted Driver of the Year third quarter 2009 by vote of an elite panel of motorsport journalists.
Last year KHI had a career-best finish of third in the Nationwide Series.
Other statistics are no less impressive with nine wins in the Nationwide Series and 33 wins in the Camping World Truck series with 19 poles.
The husband and wife-owned team has no formal division of labour as DeLana explained “We both have strengths and weaknesses, and while we both have opinions on everything that happens at KHI we’ve surround ourselves with good people that make the decision making process a lot easier. We both are fairly involved in every aspect of the company, so there has never been a divvying up of the responsibilities.”
Last year KHI took what outsiders might have considered a risk on drivers whose recent results did not match their previous records.
Starting a race team in Kevin’s first year of NASCAR premier-level Sprint Cup series is not something that’s expected, but with DeLana as his partner in life and business they’ve accomplished results while establishing a firm hold on the future.
Kevin Harvick Inc.’s launch occurred in the driver’s first full year in Sprint Cup, as DeLana told Auto123.com: “KHI started because Kevin had been unsuccessful in winning a truck race. We made our first KHI Truck Series start in Richmond in 2001 and came up .006 second short of winning the race. That really lit the fuse for both of us and further fuelled our interest in team ownership.”
Harvick, who drives for Richard Childress Racing, was intending to make a part-time debut in Sprint Cup while racing full-time in the Nationwide series before the season began in 2001.
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| Photo: nascar.com |
But no one could have foreseen the tragic death of Childress’ No. 1 driver, Dale Earnhardt Sr at the season opening race at Daytona. Harvick was thrust full-time into driving, and yet found the time to start his and DeLana’s team.
From that start in 2001 the team entered the Truck Series and then moved up to Nationwide series. KHI driver Ron Hornaday, Jr. took Camping World Truck title in 2007 and 2009. And Hornaday was voted Driver of the Year third quarter 2009 by vote of an elite panel of motorsport journalists.
Last year KHI had a career-best finish of third in the Nationwide Series.
Other statistics are no less impressive with nine wins in the Nationwide Series and 33 wins in the Camping World Truck series with 19 poles.
The husband and wife-owned team has no formal division of labour as DeLana explained “We both have strengths and weaknesses, and while we both have opinions on everything that happens at KHI we’ve surround ourselves with good people that make the decision making process a lot easier. We both are fairly involved in every aspect of the company, so there has never been a divvying up of the responsibilities.”
Last year KHI took what outsiders might have considered a risk on drivers whose recent results did not match their previous records.