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| Kevin Harvick is 6/1 favorite to win Sunday in Las Vegas. |
That’s because the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), is also a businessman who runs his own management firm, KHI Management, which represents Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s bantamweight title challenger Miesha Tate. Tate will fight champion Holly Holm as the co-headliner Saturday night during UFC 196 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Harvick will be looking for a clean sweep of the weekend in Las Vegas both in the octagon and on the racetrack.
The defending Kobalt 400 winner delivered a dominating performance at Las Vegas in 2015 to score his first win of the season and his first at Las Vegas in only the season’s third race. His No. 4 car lived up to the “freaky fast” motto of sponsor Jimmy John’s as he led five times for a race-high 142 laps en route to his 29th career Sprint Cup win.
The Bakersfield, California native has had reasons to celebrate at Las Vegas dating all the way back to 2001. Following his Sprint Cup debut Feb. 26 of that year at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, the series headed west to Las Vegas. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001, Harvick married his wife DeLana. That Sunday, March 4, Harvick scored his first career Sprint Cup top-10.
In early December 2014, he was honored as the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion during Champions Week in Las Vegas.
Harvick also has two wins in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at Las Vegas. His first came in March 2004, when he started 11th, led 14 laps and raced his way to victory by 0.119 of a second over runner-up Kasey Kahne.
Harvick’s second Xfinity win at Las Vegas came in February 2010. Driving his own No. 33 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc., he started second, led 82 laps and beat runner-up Denny Hamlin to the finish line by 1.361 seconds. It was the sixth win for Harvick’s team in the Xfinity Series.
He is still searching for his first Sprint Cup pole at Las Vegas, but he did win the pole for the Xfinity race in 2007, when he turned a lap at 181.111 mph.
If the start of the 2016 Sprint Cup season is any indication, Harvick should have plenty of opportunities to celebrate this weekend. He kicked off the season with a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and followed that with a dominating performance last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he led a race-high 131 laps and scored his second consecutive top-10.
Harvick’s goal now is to score his first win of the 2016 campaign and defend his Kobalt 400 crown Sunday on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas tri-oval.
KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing:
You got married in Las Vegas, you’ve won a Sprint Cup race there, two Xfinity Series races, and celebrated your Sprint Cup championship in Las Vegas. Does the city have a special meaning to you?
“I have raced there for a long time but I don’t know that it has that special meaning other than the fact that we got married out there. Usually, DeLana and I eat at the same restaurant, we go to the same places and try to have some fun. It’s definitely been a good racetrack for me. It’s still a place where I have a lot of family and friends and people I enjoy. It’s a busy weekend but, all-in-all, it’s still a fun place to go.”
KHI Management, represents fighter Miesha Tate, who is fighting for the bantamweight title against champion Holly Holm Saturday at UFC 196 in Las Vegas? That is going to be a huge fight and a crazy environment that will be co-headlined by a special welterweight bout between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz. What are you expecting?
“I’ve been to one fight that has that type of environment – when I went to Brock Lesnar’s fight back when he fought for the belt the last time. But the buzz that Conor (McGregor) creates and Miesha (Tate) and her weight class create, you know, and from the management side of it, you look at it and you have one of your fighters fighting for the championship. To be able to go see that is exciting. You blend that all together with the NASCAR weekend and you have the fight in town, we’ll have a lot of sponsors in town, which makes it great because you’re going to have the sponsors at the event. You’re going to have the sponsors at the NASCAR event, and a lot of NASCAR people at the UFC event. It’s going to be a great weekend and a lot of fun. I think it’s going to be fun to just take in that atmosphere, because when you get in fights that are at that level, it’s just a different atmosphere. You don’t get that atmosphere created very often, so it’s fun to be involved.
Did you know that the fight was going to take place on the same weekend as the Sprint Cup race? Does that help you from a business perspective with your KHI Management and NASCAR partners?
“We knew when everything was happening that it was going to be right around the NASCAR weekend in Las Vegas, and UFC decided to actually have it on that weekend. Once we saw it was the same weekend, we definitely changed our course of action for planning for that weekend. We knew we were going to have a lot of people there, so now that’s really why we do the management company. When you have these types of events and they fall into place like that and you can cross‑promote like that –people who aren’t NASCAR fans or UFC fans who aren’t NASCAR fans – and you can get them to the other events, that’s a big plus for us on the sponsorship side and entertaining people. So I don’t think there is anybody who’s going to come for one or the other and not go to both events. That’s a good thing.”
Jimmy John’s Racing Team Report
Round 3 of 36 – Kobalt 400 – Las Vegas
Teammates:
Danica Patrick – No. 10 Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet SS
Brian Vickers – No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS
Kurt Busch – No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet SS
Primary Team Members:
Driver: Kevin Harvick
Hometown: Bakersfield, California
Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina
Car Chief: Robert Smith
Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Headquarters: Concord, North Carolina
Engine Specialist: Jereme Jackson
Hometown: Lincolnton, North Carolina
Spotter: Tim Fedewa
Hometown: Holt, Michigan
Over-The-Wall Crew Members:
Gas Man: Justin White
Hometown: Lynnville, Tennessee
Front Tire Changer: Ira Jo Hussey
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Second Gas Man: Marc Wulf
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Front Tire Carrier: Todd Drakulich
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Windshield: Aaron Kuehn
Hometown: Kensington, Connecticut
Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith
Hometown: Concord, North Carolina
Jackman: Stan Dolittle
Hometown: Ninety Six, South Carolina
Rear Tire Carrier: Mike “Shrek” Morneau
Hometown: Oxford, Maine
Road Crew Members:
Truck Drivers: Rick Hodges and Stephen Mitchell
Hometowns: Raleigh, North Carolina, and Woodville, Ohio, respectively
Tire Specialist: Todd Chafee
Hometown: West Winfield, New York
Shock Specialist: Michael McCarville
Hometown: Kensington, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Engineers: Dax Gerringer and Billy Keubler
Hometowns: Gibsonville, North Carolina, and Saline, Michigan,respectively
Mechanics: Richie Bean and Allen Mincey
Hometown: Bradford, Vermont, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida,respectively
Fuel Runner: Evan Kureczka
Hometown: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Chassis Information – Chassis No. 4-858: Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS built on Chassis No. 4-858 in the Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Built in 2014, Chassis No. 4-858 made its debut April 7 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. It made two other appearances in 2014, scoring a second-place finish at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 and a third-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. It won its first start of 2015 at Las Vegas in March. In four 2015 starts, it had one win and two runner-up finishes.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Notes of Interest:
Freaky Fast in 2016: Harvick is in his 16th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and his third at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) with crew chief Rodney Childers at the helm. In their first two seasons together, Harvick and Childers combined to produce eight victories, nine poles, 37 top-five finishes and 48 top-10s; led 4,431 laps; won the 2014 Sprint Cup title; and finished runner-up in 2015 to champion Kyle Busch.
Top-10 in Six Straight: In the last six points-paying Sprint Cup races, Harvick has four top-five finishes, six consecutive top-10s and led 369 laps. Harvick finished eighth at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in October 2015, before a third-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. He finished runner-up at Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Harvick and the No. 4 team started 2015 with a fourth-place finish in the 58th Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and a sixth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Overwhelming Start – Married and First Top-10 in the Same Week: Following Dale Earnhardt’s death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Harvick was named the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing and made his Sprint Cup debut at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway the very next weekend, where he finished 14th. The following Wednesday, as the Sprint Cup Series headed west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Harvick married his wife DeLana. That Sunday, Harvick scored his first career Sprint Cup top-10. Then, on March 11, less than one month since his debut in NASCAR’s top series, Harvick won his first Sprint Cup race at Atlanta.
Harvick in the Sprint Cup Series at Las Vegas: The Kobalt 400 will mark Harvick’s 16th career Sprint Cup start at Las Vegas. He scored his lone win at the 1.5 mile oval in his most recent visit when he started 18th, led five times for a total of 142 laps and beat Martin Truex Jr. by 1.640 seconds. He also has four top-five finishes and six top-10s at the 1.5-mile oval. The 40-year-old driver has led 223 laps, has an average starting position of 20.5, average finish of 13.8, and has completed 99.1 percent (3,991 of 4,026) of the laps he’s contested there.
Harvick in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas: Harvick has made 11 starts in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas. Harvick has two wins, one pole, six top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He has led 364 laps, has an average starting position of 7.0 and average finish of 9.3, and has completed 95.6 percent (2,120 of 2,217) of the laps he’s contested there. Harvick’s first Xfinity win at Las Vegas came in 2004, when he started 11th and led 14 laps, and his second in 2010, when he started second and led 82 laps. His lone Xfinity pole position came in 2007, when he ran 181.111 mph.
Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) at Las Vegas: In 19 overall starts at Las Vegas, SHR-prepared Chevrolets have earned two wins (Tony Stewart in 2012 and Harvick in 2015), five top-five finishes and six top-10s, have been atop the leaderboard for 462 laps, and have completed 98.2 percent of the laps contested (5,019 of 5,109).
- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing
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