'Happy Harvick' indeed NASCARdriver riding three-race winning streak
AVONDALE, Ariz. — His nickname is "Happy Harvick," a moniker earned early in his career when things rarely went wrong.
But when the wins became fewer and far between at NASCAR's top level, the name seemed to be more of a sarcastic reference to Kevin Harvick's perpetual scowl.
Not anymore. Not even close.
With wins in his last three races, including Saturday night's Nextel Cup victory that gave him a weekend sweep at Phoenix International Raceway, Harvick is indeed happy again.
"Everything is good right now," he said. "From my personal life, to life on the race track."
Harvick snapped his 38-race winless streak in the Cup series by passing Greg Biffle with 10 laps to go in the desert. Up until the moment Harvick took the lead, he had been off the radar — he hadn't led a lap, settling in for what appeared to be a non-eventful top-10 finish.
But when it was time to race hard, he pounced. Harvick blew past Biffle, then opened up such a wide lead he was practically able to coast his Chevrolet home.
Good thing, too. Harvick was worried he'd run out of gas — it happened to him last year in Phoenix on the final lap when he was running fourth. Not this time, though. While he was conserving fuel, Biffle and Mark Martin (who combined to lead 262 of the 312 laps) both ran out of gas trying to chase Harvick down.
Crew chief Todd Berrier told Harvick about the troubles behind him, and assured him he had nothing to worry about.
"We always worry about running out of gas, but once we were able to get out in front and in clean air, and saw how far we were able to pull away," Harvick explained. "I am telling you, I let off ... and Todd told me it was all good by a half a lap."
And that was exactly what Harvick wanted to hear.
He's spent much of the past two seasons publicly complaining about the shortfalls at Richard Childress Racing, where he was thrust into Dale Earnhardt's ride five days after the seven-time champion was killed at Daytona in 2001. The company prevailed in those first years, but eventually dropped off and Harvick, the flagship driver, failed to make the Chase for the championship the past two seasons.
But with Harvick's contract expiring at the end of the season, Childress has made wide-ranging changes in an effort to improve the organization enough that Harvick won't flee to a rival team.
The owner may have succeeded.
Harvick won last week's Busch Series race in Nashville, Tenn., then made it back-to-back Busch victories Friday night in Phoenix to open up a 289-point lead in the standings.
He carried that momentum into Saturday night and grabbed the second weekend sweep of his career. That moved him to eighth in the Cup standings, 174 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.
