By: Dave Thompson

Kevin Harvick is known for his contagious smile which donned him the nickname of “Happy” Harvick. In 2009, Harvick and the 29 team were far from happy. The team had a tremendous start to the season with a win in the Bud Shootout followed by a 2nd place finish in the Daytona 500. The following week in Fontana, Harvick failed to finish the race and snapped a streak of 81 consecutive races that the 29 had taken the checkered flag. This was just the start of what would become the worst season of Harvick’s career.

By April, the poor performance on the track had begun to fuel frustration levels throughout the entire team and organization. Richard Childress, team owner, decided to step in and make a dramatic change by swapping the crew chiefs and pit crew of the 29 and the 07 team. Neither Harvick or Casey Mears seemed pleased with the change. In July, the rumors where swirling that Harvick had asked out of his contract with RCR a year early to seek other opportunities. All indications were pointing to him joining his long time friend, Tony Stewart, at Stewart-Haas Racing. Childress wasted no time to dismiss the rumors and ensured the media and fans that Harvick and team sponsor Shell would return for 2010. The announcement did little for the teams performance on the track as Harvick’s frustration levels began to boil over. The fans listening to Harvick’s in car audio during the Michigan race in August were “all ears” when Childress and Harvick engaged in a heated verbal exchange which included: Harvick: “I’m tired of listening to your excuses Richard, be quiet”. Childress: “I’ll talk to you later buddy”. This appeared to be the end of the marriage between owner and driver while spawning questions of their personal friendship off the track.

In an exclusive interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith in October, Harvick did confirm that conversations did take place with Childress about his future with RCR. Although he did reinforce his plans to remain with the team through 2010, Harvick did strongly hint that a change of scenery would be likely after the 2010 season and his “book” at RCR closed.

So what does the future hold for Kevin Harvick? All the wholesale changes made during the 2009 season did seem to pay some dividends towards the end of the season. Harvick finished the season strong at Homestead with a 3rd place finish which included leading 56 laps. Despite the noticeable improvements over the final six races for Harvick, there is still the looming question of what the future holds at RCR.

In my opinion, Harvick will improve over his 19th place finish in the points in 2009 and compete for a place in the Chase for 2010. Will he be “Happy” Harvick in 2010? He will need to start strong again and break his streak of 107 races without a win early to put the “Happy” back with Harvick. If 2010 is a repeat of last season, this very talented driver will be a hot commodity for 2011.

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