Kevin Harvick’s Start in 2001
Alright, let’s talk about Kevin Harvick back in 2001. That year started out rough, real rough for everyone in NASCAR. We all remember losing Dale. It just cast a shadow over everything.
Then Richard Childress Racing had this massive hole to fill. And in steps this young guy, Kevin Harvick. Wasn’t the plan, you know? He wasn’t supposed to jump into Cup like that, definitely not in the way it happened. He ended up in the #29 car, a new number for the team, because of everything that went down.
Talk about pressure. Stepping into that situation, driving for RCR right after Dale’s passing… man, everyone was watching. And what does he do? He goes out there just a few weeks later, in Atlanta, and puts that #29 in victory lane. I remember watching that finish. It was tight, right down to the wire. Seeing him win, after everything… it was pretty powerful stuff. Felt like more than just a race win.
He didn’t just stop there. He kept digging all season.
- He grabbed another win later that year, out at Chicagoland. Showed that first one wasn’t just a fluke or pure emotion.
- Pulled off a good number of top-5 finishes, I think it was six.
- And stacked up quite a few top-10s too, like sixteen of ’em.
Pretty solid performance for a rookie, especially under those circumstances. He was consistent, kept the car up front a lot.
Naturally, he got the Rookie of the Year award. Hard to argue against that, right? He really stepped up when the team needed someone. And he finished ninth in the points standings for the year. Ninth! After starting the season like that, basically thrown into the fire. It showed he wasn’t just a fill-in; he was the real deal.
Yeah, 2001… it was a tough year to start, but watching Harvick make his mark in that #29, right from the get-go, that was something I won’t forget.
