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163-635: Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for NASCAR on Fox . He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series , driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart–Haas Racing . Harvick won the Cup Series championship in 2014 as well as the 2001 and 2006 Xfinity Series championships, and the 2007 Daytona 500 . Harvick holds

326-467: A "lighter" parallel to ESPN's SportsCenter that would still be "comprehensive, thorough and extremely skeptical", Talk2 —a nightly talk show hosted by Jim Rome that was billed as an equivalent to CNN 's Larry King Live , Max Out —an extreme sports anthology series carried over from ESPN, and SportsSmash —a five-minute recap of sports headlines which aired every half-hour. ESPN2 also carried several half-hour, sport-specific studio programs under

489-418: A 36th-place finish. Later in the season, he was fined for a post-race incident with Greg Biffle at Bristol Motor Speedway . Harvick was also suspended for rough driving in a Truck race at Martinsville , in which he announced on his radio that he intentionally spun out driver Coy Gibbs , prompting NASCAR to immediately take him out of the race. Even though it was heard on the radio that he did, Harvick lied in

652-466: A DNF at Talladega, again his stage points would keep him from elimination. Harvick finished 5th at Martinsville after sliding to the finish after last-lap contact. The following week at Texas, Harvick would win stage 1, lead a total of 35 laps, and win the race. Harvick's win would secure him a spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead. The win was also Harvick's first at Texas, leaving Kentucky and Pocono as

815-486: A Daytona 500 race, it was still a significant improvement over its predecessor the Dodge Charger 500. NASCAR feared that these increasing speeds significantly surpassed the abilities of the tire technology of the day, and it would undoubtedly increase the number of gruesome wrecks that were occurring. As a result, the 1970 Homologation rules were changed so that one car for every two U.S. dealers had to be built for sale to

978-796: A Midwest regional series. In addition to the ARCA Menards Series , it also sanctions the ARCA Midwest Tour since 2007, and previously the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series from 1999 to 2016. NASCAR purchased ARCA in early 2018. For the 2020 season, the NASCAR K&;N Series East and West were rebranded under the ARCA banner as the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West . Outside of NASCAR, there are

1141-451: A backup driver. The caution came out 5 laps later and Harvick made his way onto pit road and was pulled out of the car. He was replaced by Kyle Petty , who was involved in an earlier wreck in the same race. Petty finished 24th 6 laps down for Harvick. Harvick was still able to stay 8th in points but in the last 2 regular season races at California and Richmond , Harvick would finish in 28th and 12th causing Harvick to fall from 8th to 15th in

1304-554: A bunch of drivers connected to Harvick's team such as Elliott Sadler and Ron Hornaday Jr. Harvick was able to finish well in all three series, finishing 3rd in points in Cup, and clenching the 2011 Truck Series Owner's Championship in his final season as a team owner. At the season's end, Harvick announced that he would shut down Kevin Harvick, Inc. because he wanted to focus on winning a Sprint Cup Series championship. In his statement announcing

1467-618: A cost of A$ 54 million, was modeled on a scaled down version of the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway . Other tracks used included the 1 ⁄ 2 mile (805 metre) Speedway Super Bowl at the Adelaide International Raceway (also owned by Jane, this was the only paved oval track in Australia other than the Thunderdome, though with only 7° banking in the turns it was more of a traditional flat track), as well as road courses such as

1630-400: A custom built machine, or a heavily modified streetcar. Individual sanctioning bodies (like NASCAR, ACT , PASS , UARA, ASA , CARS Tour , etc.) maintain their own late model rule books, and even individual racetracks can maintain their own rule books, meaning a late model that is legal in one series or at one track may not be legal at another without modifications. The national touring series,

1793-456: A documentary special called This is SportsCenter , in which ESPN showed a documentary showing the production of an edition of SportsCenter , while the finished product aired on ESPN2. The documentary would usually air for two hours, where the first hour would cover the preliminary production of the night's show on ESPN, while ESPN2 aired ESPN's regular programming. The second hour usually spent time at production control while covering reaction to

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1956-427: A faulty shifter which forced him to drive with one hand for the last several laps. At Homestead, Harvick came up one spot short of the championship, finishing 2nd in the race and the championship to Kyle Busch . With 3 laps to go, Harvick was closing in on Busch but ran out of time, finishing 2nd to him by 1.5 seconds. Despite his second-place finish in the championship, Harvick had led the point standings for much of

2119-451: A few laps earlier on a restart. A confrontation took place after Harvick met with Johnson and lightly punched him in the chest . Harvick dominated next week at Loudon, leading 216 of 300 laps. However, he ran out of gas, allowing Matt Kenseth to win. Harvick finished 21st, putting him in danger of being eliminated from the Chase. The following week at Dover International Speedway, Harvick dominated

2282-477: A finish resembling the previous race in 2010. As a joke to Harvick's words in 2010, Johnson asked Harvick in post-race ceremonies if "I can have my golden horseshoe back." Harvick took his second consecutive win of the year at Martinsville Speedway . Harvick then won the Coca-Cola 600 after Earnhardt Jr. ran out of fuel in the last turn on Lap 402. He would then later win at Richmond, narrowly beating Jeff Gordon due to

2445-495: A great deal of available data, and NASCAR was formed just as some of the improved technology was about to become available in production cars. Until the advent of the Trans-Am Series in 1967, NASCAR homologation cars were the closest thing that the public could buy that was actually very similar to the cars that were winning national races. The 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a displacement of 303 cu in (5.0 L)

2608-411: A highly sophisticated purpose built race car with race-tuned V-8 engines developing 480 kW (650 bhp), quick change axles and gearboxes and biased and staggered chassis and braking set up for constant left turning. However large bumpers were mandatory with contact very much encouraged to remove opponents. The sport can be seen at venues throughout Britain and Mainland Europe. A downsized version of

2771-470: A hub failure at Las Vegas (41st), a cut oil line at Bristol (39th), a blown tire at Auto Club (36th), and an engine failure at Texas (42nd) – each time squandering one of the fastest cars on the track, as well as leading the most laps. At Darlington, Harvick dominated the Bojangles' Southern 500 and overtook Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap to win his second race for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick almost won

2934-493: A late-race pit stop that shuffled Harvick to the lead. During the 2011 season, Kevin Harvick and fellow driver Kyle Busch were embroiled in a feud. After Harvick intentionally wrecked Busch at the 2010 Ford 400 at Homestead, he and Busch tangled several times during the 2011 season. A post-race incident at Darlington in May 2011 led NASCAR to put both drivers on probation and fining them $ 25,000. Later that season, Kyle Busch tangled with

3097-452: A majority of the race to earn the third win of the season, leading 351 of 400 laps in the process. That win allowed Harvick to clinch a spot into the next round of the Chase, after narrowly avoiding being eliminated. In the final race of the Round of 12 at Talladega, Harvick was again in a tough situation. During a green-white-checker restart, Harvick's car was unable to accelerate, which triggered

3260-470: A meeting at the Streamline Hotel in order to form an organization that would unify the rules. When NASCAR was first formed by France in 1948 to regulate stock car racing in the U.S., there was a requirement that any car entered be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers. Furthermore, the car models were required to have sold over 500 units to the public. This

3423-524: A minimum of 12 races for JR Motorsports . Despite a second-place finish in his Budweiser Duel in a photo finish against Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne , Harvick failed post-race inspection, and his Duel finish was disallowed. As a result, Harvick started the Daytona 500 in 38th, getting in the 500 on a Provisional. Harvick ran upfront during the Daytona 500, but was caught up in a last-lap crash leaving turn 4, and

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3586-399: A multi-car wreck. Due to the caution being displayed quickly after the leaders crossed the line, the race was considered official, and Joey Logano was declared the winner. Denny Hamlin, who was competing with Harvick for a spot in the next round, was caught up in the wreck and was eliminated from the Chase. Harvick managed to avoid the wreck, and finished 15th, advancing him to the next round in

3749-684: A number of other national or regional stock-car sanctioning bodies in the United States. There are a few organizations that cater to these local short tracks . The American Speed Association (ASA), Champion Racing Association (CRA), International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), United Auto Racing Association (UARA), Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS), and they all sanction their own forms of stock-car racing, on varying types of track, and with various levels of media coverage. The International Race of Champions (IROC) and Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) are usually perceived as being outside of

3912-581: A post-race interview saying that he did not purposely wreck Gibbs. Harvick was banned from the Cup Series race the next day, with Kenny Wallace replacing him; he was also fined $ 35,000 and placed into another probation (he was already on probation for the Biffle incident). Harvick rebounded and scored his first career Winston Cup pole position in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona . Later in the season, he took his third Cup win at Chicagoland Speedway . This would prove to be one of

4075-469: A race in this series either. His lone win came in a Truck race at Phoenix. Harvick started the 2009 season by winning the Budweiser Shootout with a last-lap pass on Jamie McMurray . After Harvick damaged his primary car for the 2009 Daytona 500 , his team switched to his Shootout car and he finished second when the race was declared official early due to rain. This wasn't his worst season, despite

4238-609: A release of his contract at the end of the 2009 season to join Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2010 season. Harvick refused to comment publicly on the subject of where he would be driving in 2010. His best race came at the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway , where Harvick had the best car in a long run and led for most of the race, but was denied victory after a late-race caution from which later eventual race winner Kasey Kahne took advantage of when he went past Harvick on

4401-579: A row) in the boxier Plymouth Belvedere. The 1969 season featured the Torino Cobra or Torino "Talladega" which had enough aerodynamic body improvements that it gave it a higher speed than the 1968 Torino, with no other changes. The Cobra, featuring extended nose and reshaped rockers, was renamed Talladega part way through the 1969 season when the Boss 429 replaced the 427. Starting in 1963 up till this point, Ford had won six straight Manufacturer Championships, and by

4564-502: A scheduling conflict with CBS's coverage of the Big Ten championship game . As a result, CBS aired the SEC championship on its affiliates in the markets of the teams involved, while ESPN2 aired a simulcast of the game in the rest of the country. ESPN2 has occasionally been used to carry simulcasts of ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language coverage of events, in an effort to promote the channel and improve

4727-500: A second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage. As of December 2023 , ESPN2 is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States—down from its 2011 peak of 100 million households. ESPN2 launched on October 1, 1993, at 7:30 p.m. ET . Its inaugural program was the premiere of SportsNight , a sports news program originally hosted by Keith Olbermann and Suzy Kolber ; Olbermann opened

4890-506: A show of honor and respect. At the time, this broke the record for earliest career start for a driver to win a race in the Modern Era, since surpassed by Jamie McMurray and Trevor Bayne , both of whom accomplished the feat in their second starts, and then by Shane van Gisbergen in 2023 in his debut. He won his second career Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois . At the end of

5053-490: A single cam-in-block . But even without the cammer, the Ford FE 427 won in 1965. In 1966 Chrysler sold enough of the 426 Hemis to make it available again, and they put it in their new Dodge Charger which had a low-drag rear window that was radically sloped. It was called a "fast-back", and because of this David Pearson was the series champion that year with Richard Petty dominating 1967, winning 27 of 48 races (including 10 in

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5216-453: A speed record for stock cars in a 2007-season Dodge Charger built to NASCAR specifications by achieving a maximum speed of 244.9 mph (394.1 km/h) at Bonneville Speedway . For the 2015 NASCAR Cup Series , power output of the competing cars ranged from 750 to 800 hp (560 to 600 kW). In the 1920s, moonshine runners during the Prohibition era would often have to outrun

5379-570: A way that they hoped would make the cars safer and more equal, so the race series would be more a test of the drivers, rather than a test of car technology. In addition, R.J. Reynolds (the tobacco conglomerate) took over as the major sponsor of NASCAR racing (changing the name to the "Winston Cup") and they made a significantly larger financial contribution than previous sponsors. Richard Petty's personal sponsorship with STP also set new, higher standards for financial rewards to driving teams. The sudden infusion of noticeably larger amounts of money changed

5542-405: A while provided a simulcast of ESPN Deportes ' edition of SportsCenter on Sundays. In return, ESPN2 programming is often seen on ESPN during blackouts of games in certain markets. ESPN2 also often carries SportsCenter at times when the broadcast on ESPN is delayed by a sporting event that overruns into one of the program's scheduled timeslots. ESPN and ESPN2 also jointly aired two episodes of

5705-586: Is a live game presentation of college football on ESPN2. The channel airs the Canadian Football League playoffs, including the season-ending Grey Cup , simulcasting from their Canadian partner TSN . The channel has also become ESPN's home for tennis coverage. The showpieces are three of the "Grand Slam" tournaments: the Australian Open , Wimbledon and the US Open . U.S.-based tournaments, including

5868-478: Is referred to as " homologation ", which other racing series has since adapted for their own rulesets. In NASCAR's early years, the cars were so "stock" that it was commonplace for the drivers to drive themselves to the competitions in the car that they were going to run in the race. While automobile engine technology had remained fairly stagnant in World War II, advanced aircraft piston engine development had provided

6031-544: Is the second tier series in the United States. It serves as the primary feeder series to the Cup Series, similar to Formula Two for Formula One , and Indy Lights for Indy Car . Races are commonly held as a support race to Cup Series events. Many current Cup Series drivers formerly competed in the Series before moving on to competing full-time in the Cup Series. The Xfinity series typically features multiple Cup Series competitors competing alongside full time Xfinity drivers. There

6194-497: Is the team racing format. Typically teams racing consists of two teams of four cars each that work together to win the race. Teams normally protect their "runners" while attempting to eliminate the opposing team, the races can be decided by a points format or first across the finish line. The class most resembling the North American form of stock car racing are known as Saloon cars. Super Saloons are similar to dirt late models with

6357-489: Is widely recognized as the first postwar modern overhead valve (OHV) engine to become available to the public. The Oldsmobile was an immediate success in 1949 and 1950, and all the automobile manufacturers could not help noticing the higher sales of the Oldsmobile 88 to the buying public. The motto of the day became "win on Sunday, sell on Monday." However, in spite of the fact that several competing engines were more advanced,

6520-553: The 2013 Hollywood Casino 400 . He dominated the race, leading 138 laps, and survived a wreck-filled event to take his third win of the season. Harvick won his fourth race of the year at the Phoenix race , taking the lead at the white flag when Carl Edwards ran out of gas. His tenure at RCR came to an end the following week at Homestead-Miami with a 10th-place finish. Harvick finished the season third in points again, with four wins, nine Top 5s, 21 Top 10 finishes, and one pole position. It

6683-487: The 2017 NFL season through 2020 , ESPN2 simulcast ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language broadcasts of Monday Night Football during the first nine weeks of the season, including its pre-game show NFL Esta Noche , and ESPN Latin America 's SportsCenter from Mexico City after the game. ESPN2 had largely scheduled filler programming against MNF until November, when it begins its Monday-night college basketball coverage . In

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6846-676: The 2Night banner, such as NFL 2Night , NHL 2Night , and RPM 2Night . Event coverage would focus on coverage of mainstream sports popular within the 18–34 age demographic, such as auto racing, college basketball and NHL hockey (where, beginning in the 1993–94 season , it aired up to five games per week under the title NHL Fire on Ice ), while also covering atypical sports such as BMX and other extreme sports . ESPN2 would also be used to showcase new technology and experimental means of broadcasting events: on September 18, 1994, ESPN2 simulcast CART 's Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix using only onboard camera feeds. In 1995, ESPN2 introduced

7009-763: The ATP Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami , as well as the US Open Series , were also previously broadcast on the channel. Most of ESPN's soccer output has been broadcast on ESPN2, including Major League Soccer , Premier League and La Liga matches; the channel also broadcast the United States' FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2009. ESPN2 formerly broadcast matches of the UEFA Champions League , until rights for that tournament moved to Fox Soccer and its sister networks. In 2003, ESPN2 began broadcasting Major League Lacrosse games. In March 2007, ESPN2 and

7172-603: The Aaron's 499 after three green-white-checkered situations, passing Jamie McMurray in what was the 88th lead change of the race, setting a new NASCAR record. On July 3, Harvick captured his second win of the year by winning the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. On August 15, Harvick captured his third win of the year by winning the Carfax 400 at Michigan. His win at Michigan locked him into the Chase for

7335-503: The BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars , the smaller BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars , previously known as "The Juniors" or "Junior Stock Cars", are also very popular. these cars are powered by the 2 litre Ford 'Pinto' engine. There are also many other formulas running on the oval tracks throughout a season that starts around March/Easter and continues to October/November. In the 2008 World Final, held at Ipswich, Andy Smith raced to victory becoming

7498-469: The Camping World Truck Series at Gateway International Raceway in his own No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado . This added Harvick to the shortlist of NASCAR drivers who have won a pole award and a race in each of NASCAR's three major series. With the departure of Royal Dutch Shell at the end of 2010, the No. 29 teams were searching for a new sponsor. In August 2010, it was announced that for 2011,

7661-491: The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway , only three weeks after Earnhardt's death, Harvick won his first career Winston Cup race in just his third start by narrowly edging Jeff Gordon . He won the race by only six one-thousandths of a second (.006). After the win, he paid tribute to Earnhardt, driving on the track backward with three fingers held aloft outside the driver's window as

7824-600: The Dollar General 300 . It was the earliest clinch of the championship ever in the Busch Series, locking up the title with four races to go. He ended the season with a record 824-point margin in the final standings. In the Nextel Cup series, Harvick, along with teammate Jeff Burton , scored the first berths for Richard Childress Racing in the Chase for the Cup . Harvick would have 3 wins, 11 top-5's and 14 top-10s going into

7987-636: The East–West Shrine Game , much of the 2006 World Baseball Classic , many Major League Soccer games, NCAA football games, NCAA basketball games, the WNBA , the Arena Football League , regular-season KHL games, and Saturday-afternoon NASCAR Nationwide Series races. In 2011, ESPN2 also acquired broadcast rights to delayed coverage for some American Le Mans Series events, with series' major events airing on ABC . ESPN2 College Football Primetime

8150-557: The NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Series , originated from local late model races in the east coast of the U.S. This division was later called the "Busch Series", the "Nationwide Series", and currently the "Xfinity Series" as its title sponsor changed. Late model racing has a very big following throughout the country. Many of the biggest late model races have very large purses, some equivalent to some NASCAR Truck and Xfinity Series races, that attract drivers from all over

8313-664: The Sharpie Professional 250 Busch race and the Food City 500 Cup race, also giving him a record fourth Busch Series win at the track (tying with Morgan Shepherd ). Harvick finished 14th in the Cup series standings and 18th in the Busch series driver's standings. In 2006, Harvick decided to run both of NASCAR's Top 2 series full-time driving for Richard Childress. In the Busch Series, Harvick would be scheduled to run all 35 races, with three different cars. He ran four races for his team in

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8476-707: The Sprint All-Star Race and finishing 10th in points. In 2007, Harvick started the Nationwide Series season by winning the Orbitz 300 at Daytona, claiming his first win in a restrictor-plate race, as well as the first win for new sponsor AutoZone in NASCAR's Nationwide Series. He also won at New Hampshire International Speedway , winning the Camping World 200 presented by RVs.com . He also ended up unexpectedly winning

8639-651: The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit (where the cars ran as a support category to the Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix ), Oran Park in Sydney , and the famous Mount Panorama Circuit . The term 'stock cars' in the UK refers to a specialized form of racing that bears little resemblance to any road car. Stock car racing was brought to Britain in 1954. Taking place on existing greyhound or speedway tracks,

8802-608: The Winston , 33 in the Busch Series, and one in the Craftsman Truck Series at Richmond International Raceway for Rick Carelli . In 2002, Harvick spent the season concentrating on running the Cup Series and would only start four races in the Busch Series. Harvick began the 2002 season making his first Daytona 500 start on the outside pole next to Jimmie Johnson , but his day ended after triggering an 18-car crash on lap 148 while running second to Jeff Gordon , relegating him to

8965-566: The Winston Cup Series with up to seven races in the No. 30 AOL Chevy. He planned to race Harvick for a full schedule in 2002. The death of Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 changed Childress's plans, and Harvick began his first Cup race the following week in the Dura Lube 400 at Rockingham, filling the seat vacated by Earnhardt's passing in the renumbered No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet. On March 11, 2001, in

9128-415: The " BottomLine ", a persistent news ticker which displayed sports news and scores. The BottomLine would later be adopted by ESPN itself and all of its future properties. In the late 1990s, ESPN2 began to phase out its youth-oriented format, and transitioned to becoming a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports programming; telecasts began to adopt a more conventional style, and the "graffiti 2" logo

9291-533: The "top 3" series. In addition to the top three series, NASCAR also sanctions many regional and local series. NASCAR also sanctions three international series that race in Canada , Mexico , and Europe . The most prominent championship in stock car racing is the NASCAR Cup Series . It is the most popular racing series in the United States, drawing over 6 million spectators in 1997, an average live audience of over 190,000 people for each race. The most famous event in

9454-409: The 2008 BriSCA F1 Stock Car World Champion for the second time in his career, taking the crown from brother Stuart Smith Jnr. 2009 also saw Andy Smith win again this time at Kings Lynns Norfolk Arena. 2010 saw Andy Smith win for a 3rd consecutive time at Coventry, the same venue as his 1st win in 2006. The 2011 World Championship took place at Northampton on September 10 with 2 Paul Harrison the winner of

9617-560: The 2021 season, the Spanish simulcast of MNF was replaced with Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli (colloquially known as the " Manningcast "), which is hosted by Eli and Peyton Manning , and features appearances by other celebrity guests. ESPN2 broadcasts in high definition in the 720p resolution format, which was launched in January 2005. In January 2011, the separate ESPN2HD branding began to be phased out, as in May of that year,

9780-460: The Chase, now using an elimination format, Harvick went on to win the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte, giving him his third win of the season and ensuring his advancement to the next round. At Texas Motor Speedway, Harvick got a second-place finish but started controversy after instigating a fight between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski on pit road immediately following the race. At Phoenix, Harvick won

9943-478: The Chase. Trevor Bayne, who was hit in the quarter panel by Harvick which triggered the wreck, accused him of intentionally spinning him out to secure a spot in the next round. Kevin Harvick and his crew chief, Rodney Childers, claimed that they had tried to move out of the way during the restart, knowing that their engine was failing. In the first race of the Round of 8, Harvick finished 8th at Martinsville. The next week at Texas, he managed to finish 3rd, despite having

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10106-556: The Clash/Shootout/Unlimited. He also won his Budweiser Duel. He was caught up in a crash on lap 35 of the Daytona 500 and finished 41st. Harvick won his first race of the season at the 2013 Toyota Owners 400 , which ended Kyle Busch 's four-year winning streak in the spring Richmond race. At the Coca-Cola 600, Harvick took the lead on the last cycle of pit stops and held off Kasey Kahne to win his 2nd 600. Harvick won his first pole position since September 2006 in qualifying for

10269-546: The Coca-Cola 600 for the third time in four years, but a poor pit stop with 250 laps left cost him the race. He recovered to score a second-place finish but finished 5.55 seconds behind Jimmie Johnson . Harvick won the pole, both at Michigan and Indianapolis . In the Irwin Tools Night Race , Harvick controlled the race early. His race, however, turned for the worse when Harvick was later penalized by NASCAR for speeding on pit road, ensuring an 11th-place finish. During

10432-530: The Cup Series, with whom he had won the Busch championship in 2001. Together, they won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Harvick and his team jumped to fifth in the 2003 point standings, coming within 252 points of Matt Kenseth . In the Busch Series, Harvick was teamed with Johnny Sauter , driving the No. 21 Hershey's -sponsored PayDay car. The two would combine for three wins, 16 Top 5s, and 24 Top 10s, with Harvick posting all three wins. They would give Childress

10595-643: The ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut and was renamed ESPN First Take . After ESPN became part of a new broadcast contract with the association, ESPN2 also premiered the new daily show NASCAR Now (similar to the previous RPM 2Night , except only focusing on NASCAR) in February 2007. Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith , a program that featured interviews with popular sports figures, had averaged extremely low ratings, and had also faced several timeslot changes, until it

10758-467: The Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler II, Charger 500, Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird to a maximum engine displacement of 305 cu in (5.0 L) for 1971. Almost all teams switched to non-aero bodystyles. NASCAR eventually adopted a restrictor plate to limit top speeds for the 7.0L engine as teams switched to small-block 358 cu in (5.9 L) engines. NASCAR edited the rules in

10921-458: The Gold Roof. The 2012 World Championship held at Skegness was won by 217 Lee Fairhurst. The 2013 World Championship will be held at King's Lynn on Saturday 21 September. ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc. , a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns

11084-611: The NASCAR Busch Series owners' championship that season. Harvick competed in 19 of the 34 races, and Sauter competed in the other 15. Harvick also scored eight pole positions and finished 16th in the final drivers' standings. On August 28 during the 2004 Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway , Harvick had one of the most bizarre sequences of events happen to him. On lap 323, Harvick radioed to his crew that his right arm had fallen asleep on him and had gone numb which made it difficult for him to operate his race car properly and needed

11247-460: The Nationwide and Cup races in the opening weekend at Daytona. With the win, Harvick also became the sixth of eight drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 , following Jeff Gordon , Dale Earnhardt , Dale Jarrett , Bill Elliott , Jimmie Johnson , and preceding Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman . Harvick would be quiet for the remainder of the season, his only other win coming in

11410-562: The No. 2 Chevrolet for his first full Busch Series season. Despite failing to qualify for the second race of the season at Rockingham, Harvick would go on to win the NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year with three wins, eight top-five finishes, and 16 top-tens as well as garnering third-place points finish. For 2001, Childress planned to run Harvick in the No. 2 ACDelco Chevy in the Busch Series full-time again, while developing him into

11573-500: The No. 21 car, with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as a sponsor. Harvick drove the No. 29 Busch car in the final race of the season at Homestead–Miami Speedway in the Ford 300, which he would claim his second win of the season. He finished 14th in the final standings. The No. 21 car finished fourth in the owner's standings. In the 2005 season, Harvick's only Cup win came at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway , despite starting towards

11736-534: The No. 33, the season opener at Daytona in Childress' No. 29, and the remaining 30 races for RCR's No. 21. He won his first Busch Series race of the 2006 season at Nashville Superspeedway. He followed the win with a weekend sweep of the Busch Series and Sprint Cup races at Phoenix International Raceway . Harvick had nine wins, 23 Top 5s, and 32 Top 10s in the Busch Series. He clinched the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series championship on October 13, 2006, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in

11899-564: The No. 75 for Spears Motorsports mid-season, posting two eighth-place finishes. He ran a full schedule the next season, posting 3 top-fives and finishing 17th in points. Harvick also moved up to the NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series in 1997, and in 1998 Harvick won five races on his way to the Winston West Series championship while driving for Spears. He received his first real national exposure during

12062-557: The Sprint Cup for the fourth time. He finished the regular season first place in points but started the Chase in third after the points were adjusted. During the 10-race Chase, Harvick scored five top-fives and nine top-tens. Despite scoring an average finish of 5.8 (best in the 2010 Chase and third-best all-time in the Chase), Harvick finished third overall, 41 points behind 2010 Champion Jimmie Johnson . Harvick also won his first career Pole in

12225-514: The UK and New Zealand there is a racing formula called stock cars, but the cars are markedly different from any road car. In Australia there was a formula that was quite similar to NASCAR called AUSCAR . The Racecar-Euro Series began in 2009 and was sanctioned by NASCAR as a touring series in 2012, currently operating as the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series . "True" stock car racing, which consists of only street vehicles that can be bought by

12388-538: The United States after World War II, this type of racing was early-on characterized by its participants' modification of passenger cars in pursuit of higher speeds, hence the name. In many regions, particularly on the east coast, modified racing is considered the highest class of stock cars in local racing. NASCAR officially sanctions the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour which is the oldest racing series sanctioned by NASCAR. The SMART Modified Tour , at one point

12551-702: The Xfinity Series from 2004 to 2011 and the Truck Series between 2001 and 2011 . The team's No. 29 late model is driven full-time in the CARS Tour by Brent Crews , alongside the No. 62 late model which is driven by several different drivers, including Harvick himself. In the media, he has sometimes been nicknamed " the Closer " and " Happy Harvick " as well as " Hot Humid Harvick " as he often wins in very hot and humid weather just like Atlanta Motor Speedway . Harvick

12714-489: The Xfinity Series, and the fifth of 36 drivers to win a race in each of NASCAR's three national series. Harvick has worked as a broadcaster off-and-on for NASCAR on FOX since 2015, calling Xfinity Series races. Since retiring from NASCAR Cup Series competition, Harvick is signed to call Cup Series races for Fox starting in 2024. Harvick is the owner of Kevin Harvick Incorporated , a race team that fielded cars in

12877-418: The aerodynamic and low-slung Hudson Hornet managed to win in 1951, 1952, and 1953 with a 308 cu in (5.0 L) inline six-cylinder that used an old-style flathead engine , proving there was more to winning than just a more powerful engine. At the time, it typically took three years for a new design of car body or engine to end up in production and be available for NASCAR racing. Most cars sold to

13040-412: The all-time record for Cup Series wins at Phoenix Raceway with nine wins. Harvick's 121 combined national series wins currently rank him third all-time in NASCAR history, behind Richard Petty and Kyle Busch , respectively, while his 60 Cup wins are tenth in series history. Harvick began his NASCAR career in 1992, he is the third of only six drivers that have won a championship in both the Cup Series and

13203-469: The authorities. To do so, they had to upgrade their vehicles—while leaving them looking ordinary, so as not to attract attention. Eventually, runners started getting together with fellow runners and making runs together. They would challenge one another and eventually progressed to organized events in the early 1930s. The main problem racing faced was the lack of a unified set of rules among the different tracks. When Bill France Sr. saw this problem, he set up

13366-442: The availability of the telecasts (as ESPN2 is available in a significantly larger number of homes than ESPN Deportes), while also reducing the need to counterprogram with lesser-viewed programs. Examples since 2016 have included NBA Christmas Day games , the 2017 World Baseball Classic (whose English rights were exclusively held by MLB Network ), and an International Champions Cup game between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. From

13529-399: The car's primary sponsor would be with Budweiser for 20 races. Adding to Harvick's new sponsorship, on January 25, 2011, Jimmy John's and Richard Childress Racing reached a multi-year agreement to sponsor the No. 29 Sprint Cup team for 6 races in 2011. Harvick won his 15th career Cup race at Auto Club Speedway after passing defending series champion, Jimmie Johnson in the final turn in

13692-526: The cars conform to standard model specs has changed over the years and varies from country to country. Today most American stock cars may superficially resemble standard American family sedans but are in fact silhouette cars: purpose-built racing machines built to a strict set of regulations governing the car design ensuring that the chassis , suspension , engine, etc. are architecturally identical to those in stock production vehicles. For example, NASCAR Cup Series race vehicles now require fuel injection . In

13855-475: The cars were mostly 'stock' cars from the 1930s with locked rear axle differentials and added armour. After the first couple of years 'specials' began to appear eventually making the 'stock' car name something of a misnomer. Since the early days of stock car racing in Britain the sport has developed into many different classes, from the destructive 'Banger' categories to the very sophisticated National Hot Rods. However,

14018-513: The chase. After a dominant win at New Hampshire, Harvick would have a substandard Chase run. He fell to sixth place in the point standings until he finished third at Texas. Following that was another dominating performance in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 12. Harvick would win that race, moving him up to third in points. At the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway , Harvick would finish fifth in

14181-534: The closure, Harvick said that the difference in costs of similar bodies between Nationwide and Cup Series cars made it mathematically impossible for a non-Cup-affiliated team to operate effectively. Harvick also admitted that his original goal in forming KHI was to achieve the success in the Truck Series that he wasn't able to get before driving in Winston Cup, and it blossomed into a venture to build drivers' careers. He sold KHI to Richard Childress. Although winless in

14344-531: The competitors, sponsorship dollars on offer as well as major television time, the Australian Superspeedway series shut down after 2001. The majority of the NASCAR and AUSCAR racing in Australia took place at the 1.801 km (1.119 mi), high-banked (24°) Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne . The Thunderdome, which was opened in 1987 and was built by multi-millionaire tyre retailer Bob Jane at

14507-636: The country including Cup, Xfinity, and Truck drivers. Despite NASCAR officially sanctioning the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series as a national championship, series such as the CARS Tour , ASA , UARA, and the ACT draw the biggest attention and sanction most of the biggest races in the country. NASCAR is currently the largest stock car racing governing body in the world. While NASCAR sanctions multiple series, it has three national championship touring series that are commonly referred to as

14670-481: The end of the 1969 season Ford would make it seven in a row. Richard Petty was tired of winning races but losing the championship, so after a private viewing of Ford's new Talladega and Boss 429 engine, he signed a lucrative deal with Ford. Prior to its first race at the Daytona 500, David Pearson's 427 powered Ford Torino Cobra set a new NASCAR record by being the first to exceed 190 mph (310 km/h) when he qualified at 190.029 mph (305.822 km/h). When

14833-511: The engine. Power output is usually in the range of 500–550 horsepower (373–410 kilowatts ). Tire width is usually limited to 8 in (200 mm). Some entry level classes are called "street stock", and are similar to what is often called " banger racing " in England. Modified stock cars resemble a hybrid of open wheel cars and stock cars. The rear wheels are covered by fenders but the front wheels and engine are left exposed. First popular in

14996-471: The entire nature of the sport. The 1973 oil crisis meant that large displacement special edition homologation cars of all makes were suddenly sitting unsold. Through the balance of the 1970s until 1991, the factory stock sheetmetal over a racing frame meant the cars looked very much like their street version counterparts. Then in 1992, with a highly modified body, and more aerodynamics, stock cars were quickly allowed to differ greatly from anything available to

15159-496: The final green-flag run. He finished 4th in the race and 3rd in the final standings. With the retirements of Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth, Harvick and his long-time rival Jimmie Johnson became the oldest full-time drivers in the Cup Series. Harvick would start the 2018 season with a DNF at the Daytona 500 , after being involved in a crash just halfway through the race finishing 31st, but would earn dominant back-to-back wins at Atlanta (his first since 2001) and Las Vegas . This would be

15322-430: The first time Harvick would earn back-to-back wins since 2015 where he won at Las Vegas and Phoenix. It would also be his 100th career win across NASCAR's top three series. However, his win at Las Vegas would not count toward the playoffs as he received an L1 penalty for the rear window of the car not being braced at all times. He has docked 20 points, crew chief Childers fined $ 50,000 and car chief Robert Smith suspended for

15485-417: The first time in 11 years after winning it in 2007 driving the No. 29 car for RCR. Over the next seven races, Harvick would finish outside the top five only twice: at Charlotte after a tire failure, and Daytona after getting caught in an Overtime wreck. At New Hampshire , Harvick stayed in the top 10 for most of the race and with less than 15 to go, Harvick used the bump and run on Kyle Busch and held onto

15648-411: The general public, is sometimes now called "street stock", "pure stock", "hobby stock", "showroom stock", or "U-car" racing. In 1972, SCCA started its first showroom stock racing series, with a price ceiling on the cars of $ 3,000. Some modern showroom stock racing allows safety modifications done on showroom stock cars. Super stock classes are similar to street stock, but allow for more modifications to

15811-650: The go-kart racing circuit, earning seven national championships and two Grand National championships. While in high school, Harvick began racing late models part-time in 1992 in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series . During the racing offseason, he competed on the North High School wrestling team, qualifying for a CIF Central Section title in his weight class his senior year. Harvick also played baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. After graduation, he attended Bakersfield College with

15974-510: The inaugural race at Montreal in August, the NAPA Auto Parts 200 , after with two laps to go, leader Robby Gordon was black-flagged for intentionally causing a crash involving rookie Marcos Ambrose . The win was considered a bit of an upset as many expected the road course ringers to dominate and Harvick had started 43rd in the race due to a driver change. Harvick went winless in 2008, but he

16137-471: The intention of majoring in architecture, but later dropped out in order to pursue a full-time racing career. Harvick made his Craftsman Truck Series debut in 1995 at the Mesa Marin Raceway , in his hometown of Bakersfield, where he started and finished 27th in his family-owned No. 72. He drove four races in the No. 72 the next season, his best finish was 11th at Mesa Marin. In 1997, he signed to drive

16300-476: The last 50 laps of the race. In the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Chicagoland , Harvick would start at the rear of the field due to unapproved body modifications but quickly moved back up to the front within 30 laps. He would be put a lap down due to an untimely caution while Harvick was on pit road because he did not beat the leader, Martin Truex Jr. , to the start-finish line. He never got back on

16463-456: The lead and didn't look back. He would go on to lead 292 out of 325 laps, a race-high for him, and he would also sweep both race stages. With less than 20 to go, Austin Dillon's car received a power failure, setting up a late-race caution. The field would pit, and Harvick would receive a devastating pit road penalty. This put him at the tail end of the longest line and would prevent him from closing out

16626-605: The lead away from Denny Hamlin, and in the end, held off fellow championship contender Ryan Newman to win the Ford Ecoboost 400 and the Sprint Cup Championship by one position over Newman. This was Kevin Harvick's first Sprint Cup Series championship in his career. In the Sprint Unlimited , Harvick scored an 11th-place finish despite receiving minor damage to his car from a wreck early in the race. Harvick started

16789-550: The lead from Michael Self on lap 42 to win the race. A day later, he won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 to sweep the weekend, his second-ever road course win, and first at Sonoma. Teammate Clint Bowyer finished second to mark a Stewart-Haas 1–2. During the chase, Harvick struggled during the first round finishing 36th at Loudon and 17th at Dover. Though his playoff points and stage points saved him from elimination. The second round fared slightly better for Harvick though he did suffer

16952-442: The lead lap for the remainder of the race, and ultimately finished 20th. Harvick's third win of the season would come at the very next week at Loudon , where he passed Matt Kenseth on a late-race restart with 7 laps to go. Next week at Dover, Harvick would have a broken track bar and would have to go to the garage but he was already locked into the next round due to his win at New Hampshire. The next week at Charlotte, Harvick would win

17115-701: The lead to get his sixth win of the year, the best in his career. He finished fourth at Pocono and 10th at Watkins Glen . Coming into Michigan , Harvick had finished second six times since winning there in 2010. He won both stages and led 108 laps en route to his seventh win of the season. Stock car racing Top-level stock cars exceed 200 mph (322 km/h) at speedway tracks and on superspeedway tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway . Contemporary NASCAR-spec top-level cars produce maximum power outputs of 860–900 hp from their naturally aspirated V8 engines. In October 2007 American race car driver Russ Wicks set

17278-528: The league agreed on a new broadcast contract that ran until the 2016 season. On October 4, 2017, ESPN announced that it had acquired rights to the Formula One World Championship ; the majority of the races are carried by ESPN2. The NHL returned to ESPN in the 2021–22 season ; ESPN2 primarily serves as a secondary broadcaster during the Stanley Cup playoffs . ESPN2's former flagship show,

17441-465: The main differences being the bodies closer resemble production cars, use iron engines up to 7.1 litres (434 cu in) with no rear offset and run much larger sprint car tyres on the rear. Stock car racing in the NASCAR mould (AUSCAR) had a following in Australia during the mid-late 1980s and through the 1990s, but with the advent of the Supercars Championship , which took up the bulk of

17604-529: The majority of the races, Dodge was forced to develop a better car of their own. Using the Charger 500 as a basis, they added a pointed nose. This nose was almost a carbon copy of the nose on the 1962 Ford Mustang I prototype. This radical body shape required a wing to remain stable at speeds over 180 mph (290 km/h). They named it the Dodge Daytona after the race they hoped to win. Even though it never won

17767-451: The morning sports/entertainment program Cold Pizza , achieved minimal success and saw several format and host changes. In January 2006, it was supplanted by the television simulcast of ESPN Radio 's Mike and Mike in the Morning (which moved from ESPNews ) and moved to a later time slot (10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time). In May 2007, Cold Pizza moved from New York City to

17930-578: The most laps and scoring his fourth win of the year. The following week at Kansas , he was again dominant, scoring the pole, finishing second in both stages, and taking the lead with two laps to go to win his fifth race of the season. This tied the most wins for Harvick in a season. Harvick was the first driver to win five of the first 13 races since Jeff Gordon in 1997. A week later in the All-Star Race , Harvick continued his winning streak yet again, winning stages 1 and 3 and held off Daniel Suárez to win for

18093-407: The most laps in the Daytona 500 but ended up finishing seventh. He followed up his seventh at Daytona with a second at Auto Club Speedway again to Jimmie Johnson. After the race, Harvick told media members that the No. 48 team (of Johnson) "had a golden horseshoe stuck up their ass". Following the race, Harvick followed up with another second-place finish to Johnson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway . He won

18256-428: The name 'stock car' is usually reserved for that racing class which traces its roots back to these early days in the 1950s, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars , which were previously known as "The Seniors" or "Senior Stock Cars". Despite the physical demands of this full-contact sport, many competitors have been racing for 20 and even 30 years. For the first 10 years of the sport, stock cars were either adapted from road cars, or bore

18419-485: The next several weeks, Harvick finished consistently in the Top 10. His first DNF of the season would soon come at Daytona , where he was involved in a big accident on lap 90. Another rough race would come five weeks later at Watkins Glen , due to heavy contact from David Ragan after spinning out with 7 laps to go. The next week, Harvick would nab his second win of the season at Bristol , where he held off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for

18582-608: The next two races. Despite Childers being absent in the Phoenix race and the penalty from last week, Harvick was able to score his 40th career win and would finally earn three consecutive wins after four previous attempts, for the first time in his career. Coming to California , four consecutive would not work for Harvick, as he was involved in a wreck with Kyle Larson early in the race, and would finish 35th place, nine laps down. He finished fifth at Martinsville , second at Texas , seventh at Bristol , fifth at Richmond , and fourth at Talladega . At Dover , Harvick dominated by leading

18745-510: The night's developments. On March 16, 2008, ESPN2 aired CBS-produced coverage of the SEC men's basketball championship game in most of the country. A tornado had damaged the original game site, the Georgia Dome , causing the remainder of the tournament to be rescheduled and re-located to the smaller Alexander Memorial Coliseum . However, the new, later tip-off time for the SEC championship created

18908-442: The only bright spots in a disappointing season, as he finished 21st in the 2002 points standings with one win, one pole, five Top 5s, and eight Top 10s. Harvick became the 2002 IROC Champion in his first season in the Series, winning at California Speedway . In Trucks, Harvick began fielding his own No. 6 truck, driving himself in five races and winning at Phoenix. In the 2003 season, Harvick teamed with crew chief Todd Berrier in

19071-409: The only tracks Harvick has yet to win. The following week at Phoenix, Harvick finished 5th. This marked the first season since 2011 where Harvick didn't win a race at Phoenix. In the season finale at Homestead, Harvick started strong, leading the championship at one point, however, after hitting some debris and losing the handle of the car, Harvick was unable to run with the leaders Truex and Busch during

19234-476: The original film— was a follow-up to a similar marathon aired by ESPNU the previous year. ESPN2 has also simulcast many game telecasts with ESPN, usually as a part of a "Full Circle" or "Megacast" broadcast, which covers a single event across ESPN platforms with different forms of coverage (such as different camera angles and features). ESPN2 also simulcasts some programming from ESPNews, often during local blackouts of scheduled national game telecasts, and for

19397-454: The other manufacturers had openly circumvented the ban. In 1963 GM gave in and openly abandoned compliance, and Chevrolet was allowed to produce the ZO6 427, but it did not immediately enjoy success. Then, in 1964 the new Chrysler 426 Hemi engine so dominated the series in a Plymouth Belvedere "Sport Fury" , the homologation rules were changed so that 1,000 of any engine and car had to be sold to

19560-514: The point standings. He didn't get a single win in the cup series this year knowing that he was successful in the Nationwide series and the truck series, having a total of 5 wins this season. Auto Club in California, Harvick blew his engine and suffered his first DNF in 82 starts. He won the first 2009 Nationwide Series race at Bristol, his first win in his car. In addition, he won the Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway . During

19723-473: The pole and finishing 3rd at Homestead-Miami. For 2017, Stewart-Haas switched from Chevrolet to Ford. Harvick went on to win Stage 2 and lead the most laps in the 2017 Daytona 500 . A large wreck on lap 129 would hinder Harvick from topping his solid day off, and would ultimately finish 22nd. Next week at Atlanta , Harvick continued his momentum by capturing the pole position. Once the green flag waved, Harvick held

19886-455: The pole and would lead 155 laps before having electrical problems on lap 154 at the same time Joey Logano had a tire problem and hit the wall. Coming into Kansas, Harvick sat 12th in the Chase standings and would be in a must-win situation to make the round of 8, but that was no problem for Harvick as he would dominate the race along with Matt Kenseth until Kenseth would fade after tapping the wall. Harvick would lead 267 laps to victory, late in

20049-778: The public did not have a wide variety of engine choices, and the majority of the buying public at the time was not interested in the large displacement special edition engine options that would soon become popular. However, the end of the Korean War in 1953 started an economic boom, and then car buyers immediately began demanding more powerful engines. Also in 1953, NASCAR recommended that the drivers add roll bars, but did not require them. In 1957, several notable events happened. The Automobile Manufacturers Association banned manufacturers from using race wins in their advertising and giving direct support to race teams. The desire from fans and manufacturers alike for higher performance cars within

20212-417: The public for homologation purposes, the race car rules were further modified, primarily in the interest of safety. This is because race drivers and their cars during this era were subjected to forces unheard of in street use, and require a far higher level of protection than is normally afforded by truly "stock" automobile bodies. In 1963 Ford sold enough of their aerodynamic "sport-roof" edition Galaxies to

20375-468: The public so it would qualify as stock, and with the heavy-duty FE block bored and stroked to the new limit of 427, the top five finishers were all Fords. Chrysler had bored their 413 to create the "Max Wedge" 426, but it still could not compete with the Fords. General Motors' headquarters had genuinely tried to adhere to the 1957 ban, but their Chevrolet division had also constantly tried to work around it, because

20538-482: The public to qualify as a stock part, instead of just 500. This made the 426 Hemi unavailable for the 1965 season. In 1965 Ford adapted two single-overhead-cams to their FE 427 V8 to allow it to run at a higher RPM (called the Ford 427 Cammer ). Ford started to sell "cammers" to the public to homologate it (mostly to dealer-sponsored privateer drag racers), but NASCAR changed the rules to specify that all NASCAR engines must use

20701-442: The public to qualify, hoping to delay the use of aero-bodies until tires could improve. For the 1970 season Dodge raced the 1969 model Daytona, but Plymouth managed to build over 1,920 Plymouth Superbirds , which were similarly equipped to the Daytona. Petty came back to Plymouth in the plus 200 mph (320 km/h) Superbird, and Bobby Isaac won the season championship in a Daytona. NASCAR restricted all "aero-cars" including

20864-554: The public. It also marks the beginning of the Generation 4 car . Modern racing "stock" cars are stock in name only, using a body template that is vaguely modeled after currently available automobiles. The chassis, running gear, and other equipment have almost nothing to do with anything in ordinary automobiles. NASCAR and the auto manufacturers have become aware of this, and for 2013 each brand ( Chevrolet , Dodge , Ford , and Toyota ) have redesigned their racing sheetmetal to more resemble

21027-423: The race and slip to fourth in the final standings to eventual 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson . Harvick opened the 2007 Sprint Cup series with a dramatic final lap pass in the Daytona 500 , beating Mark Martin by .020 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish, the closest margin at the 500 since electronic scoring started in 1993. He would become only the fourth NASCAR driver to sweep both

21190-475: The race and swept both 2014 races Phoenix, allowing him to transfer into the final round of the Chase at Homestead. At Homestead–Miami Speedway, Harvick was consistent all day long, occasionally battling with Jeff Gordon for the lead. After a late caution, Harvick decided to pit with four tires. Rebounding after restarting outside the top 10, Harvick managed to reach the Top-5, when another caution occurred. Harvick took

21353-484: The race and winning yet again. Harvick would only advance up to the 9th position. Despite his disappointing performances, he would lead the points standings heading out of Atlanta due to his stage wins and consistency during the two races. Harvick raced in the K&;N Pro Series West event at Sonoma Raceway , his first race in the series since Iowa Speedway in 2007, driving the No. 4 for Jefferson Pitts Racing . Harvick took

21516-507: The race started Donnie Allison's Torino lead the majority of the race (84 laps). Towards the end of the race the Torino of LeeRoy Yarbrough chased down the Dodge of Charlie Glotzbach , who had an 11-second lead. It was the first Daytona 500 won on a last lap pass. Things got worse for Dodge when NASCAR, a few months later, finally allowed Ford to run its hemi-headed Boss 429 engine. With Ford winning

21679-411: The race, Carl Edwards , would get the lead and lead several laps, but after a few cautions and restarts, Harvick would get back the lead and while Edwards and Kyle Busch would battle hard for 2nd place, Harvick would pull away to get his 4th win of the season, and advance into the Round of 8 in the Chase but he would officially get eliminated in the Round of 8. He would wrap up his 2016 season by winning

21842-426: The rear of the field. He won without the assistance of crew chief Todd Berrier, who was serving a four-week suspension for a rules violation. In the Busch Series, Harvick was paired with Brandon Miller . Harvick and Miller combined for 3 wins, 15 top-fives, and 19 top-tens to give the No. 21 its second fourth-place finish in the owner's standings. Harvick would win his first "sweep" of his career at Bristol, winning both

22005-549: The recognizable bodywork of road cars. By the 1970s, chassis and bodywork had evolved into very specialized forms. In 2001 the ASCAR Racing Series was formed and ran until 2008, the series was a "NASCAR" style racing series that was predominantly run at Rockingham Motor Speedway as well as briefly on the continent. The first season was won by John Mickel . Other notable champions were Nicolas Minassian and Ben Collins who also played as The Stig on Top Gear . The field

22168-536: The regular season from the third race of the season at Las Vegas to the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond (a span of 24 races). After the latter race, he fell to fourth in the standings, allowing Johnson to take over in the top spot. He then fell to 15th (11 positions back) after the Chicagoland race as Matt Kenseth took over the points lead. After the fall Martinsville race, Harvick went back up to fourth in

22331-484: The regular season, Harvick made the 2012 Chase through consistency. At Phoenix, Harvick avoided a chaos-filled race to collect his only win of the season and the 19th of his career. He went on to finish 8th in points. In 2013 at Daytona, Harvick dodged a practice wreck in the last session of practice, and the same in the Sprint Unlimited. Later, he would go on and tie Tony Stewart's and Dale Jarrett's record for wins in

22494-575: The regular stock car racing scene because of their all-star grids. Cars are built to an extremely rigid design and feature strong steel guards around almost the entire car. "Stockcars" are divided into three classes: Superstocks, Stock cars, Ministocks (Ministocks predominantly being a non-contact youth class). Superstocks are the top class and are typically powered by V8 engines up to 4.1 litres (248 cu in) which can produce over 370 kilowatts (500 hp). The majority of races are of an individual nature however, unique to New Zealand stock car racing

22657-401: The remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially formatted as a younger-skewing counterpart to its parent network ESPN , with a focus on sports popular among young adult audiences (ranging from mainstream events to other unconventional sports), and carrying a more informal and youthful presentation than the main network. By the late 1990s, this mandate was phased out, as the channel increasingly became

22820-432: The restart; he finished second. He would miss the chase for the first time since 2005 and finished a disappointing 19th in the final standings. Harvick's 2010 season was considered a bounce-back year. He started the same way he did in 2009 by winning the Budweiser Shootout with a pass in the penultimate lap in a green-white-checkered situation. Harvick placed second in his Gatorade Duel by inches to Jimmie Johnson . He led

22983-519: The restrictions of homologation meant that carmakers began producing limited production "special edition" cars based on high production base models. It also became apparent that manufacturers were willing to produce increasingly larger engines to remain competitive (Ford had developed a 483 they hoped to race). For the 1963 season NASCAR engines were restricted to using a maximum displacement of 7.0 liters (427 cu.in.) and using only two valves per cylinder. Also, even with heavy duty special editions sold to

23146-423: The season by finishing second in the Daytona 500 . At Las Vegas, Harvick held off Martin Truex Jr. to win his first race of the season. Harvick won again the next week for his fourth straight win at Phoenix and a record seventh win at the track overall. At Auto Club, Harvick managed to finish second, this time to Brad Keselowski . This brought his streak of Top 2 finishes to eight races overall. It appeared Harvick

23309-448: The season, Gil Martin became the new crew chief for Harvick as Childress decided to switch all team members of the No. 07 and No. 29 except the drivers and spotters, thus giving Casey Mears Harvick's crew chief Todd Berrier . In the first five races following the switch, Harvick finished with an average of 25.4, finishing 34th, 11th, 41st, 17th, and 24th respectively. A short time later, reports surfaced stating that Harvick had asked for

23472-658: The season, he finished with two victories, six Top 5s, and 16 Top 10s. Harvick was awarded the NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award and secured a ninth-place finish in the 2001 points standings. He also won the Busch Series championship, becoming the first driver to win the Busch Series championship while also driving full-time in the Winston Cup Series with a Top 10 finish. Harvick would end the season winning six pole positions, and making 69 starts: 35 in Cup Series, an appearance in

23635-601: The series is the Daytona 500 , an annual 500-mile (800 km) race at the Daytona International Speedway . The series' second-biggest event is arguably The Brickyard 400 , an annual 400-mile (640 km) race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , the legendary home of the Indianapolis 500 , an open-wheeled race. However, the event was excluded from the 2021 schedule in favor of a race on

23798-505: The show and the channel by jokingly welcoming viewers to "the end of our careers." Launching with an estimated carriage of about 10 million homes, and nicknamed "The Deuce", ESPN2 aimed to be a more informal and youth-oriented channel than parent network ESPN. The youthful image was also reflected in its overall presentation, which featured a graffiti -themed logo and on-air graphics. Its initial lineup featured studio programs such as SportsNight —which host Keith Olbermann characterized as

23961-478: The standings missing out on the inaugural Chase for the Cup . Harvick's season was also known for his conflicts with Matt Kenseth at Pocono and rookie Kasey Kahne at Phoenix. While winless in the 2004 Cup season, Harvick placed third in the voting for Most Popular Driver. He had fourteen Top 10 finishes and finished 14th in points. Harvick was paired with another driver in the Busch Series, rookie Clint Bowyer . They combined for one win, 13 Top 5s, and 20 Top 10s in

24124-432: The standings. When the fall Phoenix race was shortened due to rain, Harvick retook the points lead. In the 2016 Daytona 500 , Harvick stayed upfront during a majority of the race and would end up finishing 4th. Harvick would earn his first win of the season at Phoenix by beating Carl Edwards in a photo finish by a margin of 0.10, the closest finish in the track's history. The win was Harvick's eighth win at Phoenix. Over

24287-408: The street models of their cars. A stock car, in the original sense of the term, is an automobile that has not been modified from its original factory configuration. Later the term stock car came to mean any production-based automobile used in racing. This term is used to differentiate such a car from a " race car ", a special, custom-built car designed only for racing purposes. The degree to which

24450-454: The track's road course. Together the Cup Series and Xfinity Series drew 8 million spectators in 1997, compared to 4 million for both American open-wheel series ( CART and IRL ), which merged in 2008 under the IRL banner. In 2002, 17 of the 20 US top sporting events in terms of attendance were stock car races. Only football drew more television viewers that year. The NASCAR Xfinity Series

24613-711: The winter of 1997/1998 on ESPN2 's coverage of the NASCAR Winter Heat Series at Tucson Raceway Park . In 1999, he drove the No. 98 Porter Cable Ford for Liberty Racing, finishing 12th in points with six top-fives. On October 23, 1999, Harvick made his first NASCAR Busch Series start in the Kmart 200 at the Rockingham Speedway in the No. 2 Chevrolet. He would start 24th and finish 42nd due to engine failure. The race would be his only start in 1999. In 2000, Harvick would sign with Richard Childress Racing to drive

24776-459: Was born in 1975 in Bakersfield, California , to parents Mike and JoNell (Walker) Harvick, and has a younger sister, Amber. He began kart racing at an early age, after his parents bought him a go-kart as a kindergarten graduation gift. Harvick grew up a fan of IndyCar driver and fellow Bakersfield native Rick Mears , and raced go-karts with Mears' son Clint . He achieved considerable success on

24939-481: Was confirmed that Harvick would drive the No. 4 Chevrolet, and would replace Ryan Newman , who parted ways with Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the season. Harvick retained Budweiser as his primary sponsor for 21 races, with Jimmy John's sponsoring the remaining races for the 2014 season. In October, it was announced that Harvick would also run a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series in 2014, competing in

25102-793: Was dropped in 2001 in favor of a version of ESPN's main logo. On-screen graphics (such as the BottomLine) used a blue color scheme instead of red to differentiate them from ESPN. Since February 12, 2007, the ESPN2 brand has been used for station identification only, with all programming using the same on-air presentation and ESPN branding as those on the main network. Sports events presented on ESPN2 originally tended to be alternative sports such as poker , billiards , lumberjacking , extreme sports and, more recently, drum and bugle corps . However, in recent years ESPN2 has broadcast increasingly more mainstream sporting events, including Major League Baseball games,

25265-479: Was finally canceled in January 2007. On August 20, 2019, the ESPNews sports betting studio show Daily Wager (now ESPN Bet Live ) was moved to ESPN2. On August 8, 2018, ESPN2 stunted as " ESPN8: The Ocho "—an homage to a fictitious eighth ESPN channel portrayed in the 2004 film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story , dedicated to unconventional and obscure sporting events. The event—which also included airings of

25428-399: Was inspired by off-road truck racing. Unlike the other two national touring NASCAR series, the Truck Series race pickup truck styled bodies, though it is still considered a stock car series because of its similarity. Much like the Xfinity Series, the Truck Series often features Cup Series drivers competing for parts of the season. The Automobile Racing Club of America was founded in 1953 as

25591-453: Was officially confirmed on January 22, 2013, that Harvick would be switching teams and joining Stewart-Haas for the 2014 season. Harvick and Childress said the parting was mutual and that it was time for Harvick to move on. Stewart-Haas Racing did not confirm what sponsor or number Harvick would be given. During the official reports it was reported, but not officially told, that Budweiser was interested in staying with Harvick. On July 12, 2013, it

25754-424: Was on track to tie Richard Petty for most straight Top 2 finishes, but this streak came to an end with an eighth-place finish at Martinsville. Harvick then went on to collect four straight Top 10 finishes at Daytona, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Indianapolis. In the first race of the Chase at Chicagoland , Harvick finished 42nd after getting a flat tire and spinning into the wall due to contact with Jimmie Johnson

25917-473: Was scored in the 13th position. The following week at Phoenix, Harvick started 13th and dominated the race, leading 224 of 312 laps, holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski over the final seven laps to win. This was Harvick's first win for Stewart-Haas Racing and snapped a tie with Jimmie Johnson for most all-time wins at Phoenix. However, following Phoenix came a bizarre five-race stretch in which Harvick finished 36th or worse four times, due to

26080-555: Was some controversy as Cup Series drivers tended to be more successful than full-time Xfinity drivers. Cup drivers are not eligible to score points in the Xfinity series, and are limited to the number of races they are allowed to race in the Series. Starting in 1995, the NASCAR Truck Series is the third highest ranking stock car series in the United States. The series was the brainchild of then-NASCAR West Coast executive Ken Clapp, who

26243-427: Was still able to post a fourth-place ranking in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup . The fourth-place finish in the 2008 standings tied 2006 for his highest points position at the end of the season. Harvick also went the entire season without a single DNF for the second straight year. In the Nationwide Series, he ran twenty-two races for his team with sponsorship from Camping World , Rheem , and RoadLoans. He did not win

26406-560: Was the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour , is another prominent modified tour. In many areas of the country late models are usually the highest class of stock cars in local racing. Rules for construction of a late model car vary from region to region and even race track to race track. The most common variations (on paved tracks) include super late models (SLMs), pro Late models (PLMs), late model stock cars (LMSCs), and limited late models (LLMs). A late model may be

26569-469: Was usually populated by professional or semi-professional stock car drivers, however notable drivers who were famous from other areas of motorsport either took part in single races or for one complete season, they included Colin McRae , Jason Plato , Matt Neal , Darren Manning , Max Papis , John Cleland and former NASCAR drivers Brandon Whitt and Randy Tolsma . The modern BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars are

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