Pikes Peak Kevin Harvick preview

<pre> No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet Driver - Kevin Harvick Crew Chief - Todd Berrier Owner - Richard Childress

Looking back through the 2000 season: Starts - 19 Top-5 starts - 5 Top-5 finishes - 5 Rookie Points - (1st) Top-10 starts - 9 Top-10 finishes - 9 Championship Standing - 4th Poles - 1 (Dover) Wins - 0

{TB} PPIR: Pikes Peak International Raceway has been a highlight in Kevin Harvick's young racing career. Harvick lapped all but one car and won the 1998 Winston West event, and finished 15th in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start the same year. In the 1999 Truck Series race, Harvick started on the outside pole and finished third. Entering this weekend's NAPA Autocare 250, Harvick intends on matching, if not exceeding, his previous successes.

"Pikes Peak fits the way I drive," Harvick said. "The track's big, sweeping turns make for good racing and great passing. The bottom groove has been the favored groove, but you can pretty much run two-wide all the way around. The track isn't overly rough on the tires, and when the tires aren't falling off quickly, I can concentrate more on driving to the front than on the strategies that might get me up there. "

The Car: The No. 2 ACDelco team brings the same car they raced six times already this year. The car, simply referred to as #8, has an average finish of seventh, has completed 1569 of 1570 laps and is credited with the team's best finish of second in Myrtle Beach. The car's most recent run was three weeks ago at the Milwaukee Mile.

"The question, is where haven't we run this car?" crew chief Todd Berrier laughed. "We have obviously built up a lot of faith in this car in a short time. The majority of our top finishes have been in this car. It has seen flat tracks, banked tracks, short tracks and speedways and hasn't disappointed us yet. Since we haven't been to Pikes Peak in a Busch car, and we haven't tested, the car will unload with a set up based on a cross between what we ran at Nazareth and Milwaukee. We'll go from there."

"Since all of our cars were brand new this year," said Harvick, "I don't really have a favorite car yet. But, I think it's obvious which car the team likes. Every time they think we have a chance to win, they bring this car. Maybe they know something about the car that I don't."

Rookie Points: Harvick continues to lead the Rookie of the Year battle by six points over Ron Hornaday.