It’s always a race to the end for Harvick
By DAVE GEORGE

Busch champ Kevin Harvick and wife DeLana pose before the Busch Series banquet at Walt Disney World last week.

Despite the frantic sound of it, NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship can make a driver downright lazy.

Jimmie Johnson, for instance, was so far out front in the point standings heading into the season’s last race at Homestead that he needed to finish only 12th to clinch NASCAR’s ultimate prize, the season-long championship. No need to risk any truly hairy driving for a shot at victory under those circumstances.

There has to be a little rage to go with the roar, though. NASCAR isn’t just a jet-fueled marketing seminar, with corporate decals plastered over every shooting star.

Say hello, then, to Kevin Harvick.

Harvick’s no coaster. He drives instead as if there’s a thunderstorm coming and one dry lap is all that’s left to make up any ground.

Every race. Every slingshot exit out of pit road. Every level of competition, too.

Harvick was officially crowned champion of the Busch Series last week, joined by his Richard Childress Racing team at the series’ annual banquet in Orlando, Fla. Harvick and his team celebrated a dominant 2006 performance. He put together one of the top seasons in Busch Series history. And Harvick achieved all that while finishing fourth in the Nextel Cup series.

That’s right, he tore it up on both circuits every weekend, both the Saturday undercard and the Sunday main event.

No driver ever has hot-footed it quite like that, winning the Busch title while competing full time in Nextel Cup. Is it greed or need? Might as well ask a shark as it swims, swims, swims from one feeding ground to another.

“For me, it’s all about putting yourself in position to win,” Harvick said after winning the 500- miler at Phoenix on Nov. 12. “And I doubt that’s ever going to change. Maybe that’s the wrong mindset, but any time we’re in position, we’re going to go for the win, Chase or no Chase.”

Hey, if backing off from victory is the wrong mindset, I don’t want to be right. Harvick is the antidote to late-season sleepiness, when so many other top drivers design their race strategy around protecting their car and their points standing.

Johnson, for instance, backed off Harvick to finish a comfortable second at Phoenix. He had the championship in his hands, after all.

Harvick and Tony Stewart are fun to watch because their hands are latched on to the steering wheel, white-knuckled and sweaty, like every race is the Daytona 500 in February and not a foregone conclusion in November.

At last week’s Busch Series banquet, Harvick was honored for his impressive performance.

He finished the year with nine Busch wins, 23 top-fives and 32 top-10 finishes. His 824-point final margin over second-place Carl Edwards was the largest in series history.

Had enough numbing numbers? Let’s make it personal, then. When Dale Earnhardt was killed at the Daytona 500 five years back, Richard Childress had to choose a driver strong enough mentally to take over his team’s top Cup car. He turned to Harvick.

Harvick didn’t inherit the Intimidator’s black No. 3 colors on his car, but he often flashes the same blinding glint in his orange No. 29 Chevy. Off the track, he talks about winning, not just finishing.

That’s a formula any fan can digest, whether they’ve ever been to a race or not.