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 In his speech at the Sprint Cup Awards Banquet, Harvick revealed
just how much of a risk he took in changing teams after the 2013
season.
"After 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing, I made the move to
Stewart-Haas Racing," said Harvick, who joined forces with long-time
friend and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart this year. "And I have to
admit, I was scared to death. I tried to play it cool, but it was a
pivotal moment in my career.
"I was venturing outside my comfort zone, and I had to make it work.
Tony, I consider you to be one of my best friends. You promised me
if I came to Stewart-Haas Racing, we would win a championship, and
we did just that. You are a man of your word."
In the first year of a new elimination format for the Chase for the
NASCAR Sprint Cup, Harvick claimed the title with victories in the
final two races. His win at Phoenix International Raceway propelled
him into the Championship Round of the Chase at Homestead-Miami
Speedway, where he secured the title by triumphing in the season
finale.
All told, Harvick won five races, three in the Chase, won a
career-best eight poles and led a series-best 2,137 laps. From day
one at SHR, he showed tremendous speed.
"The first time I was able to get in my No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's
Chevrolet, we were fast," Harvick said. "It didn't matter if it was
an open test at Charlotte last December. A practice, a qualifying
session or a race-we wanted to be at the top of the board."
Nor was Harvick hesitant in offering praise to the architect of his
race team, crew chief Rodney Childers.
"He built new race cars and assembled a whole new group of guys
between the end of the 2013 season right until we loaded up for the
Daytona 500," Harvick said. "Under his direction, we accomplished a
lot and became great friends in the process.
"From the lead-up to the Daytona 500 until the checkered flag
dropped at Homestead, Rodney asked for a lot from our people on this
race team. Rodney, I can't say thank you enough for all that you've
done."
In accepting the championship owner's award, SHR co-owner Gene Haas
pointed out that both titles won by the organization since he
partnered with Stewart in 2009 required drivers Stewart (2011) and
Harvick to win the final race of the season at Homestead.
And in fact, Harvick finished one position and a mere half-second
ahead of series runner-up Ryan Newman in the season finale.
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"We were one point away from our best finish of the season at
Homestead," Newman said after leaving the stage.
The overwhelming consensus among the 16 drivers who appeared during
the ceremony was that the new Chase format had transformed the
sport.
"Even though we didn't make it to Homestead to battle for the
championship, I truly believe NASCAR got it right this year with the
new knockout format for the Sprint Cup," said Jeff Gordon, who won
four times in 2014 but was eliminated from the Chase at Phoenix by a
single point.
"I cannot begin to describe the pressure and the intensity we faced
week after week, race after race-and this year crowned a deserving
champion."
For the 12th straight year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was named the NMPA
Sprint Most Popular Driver. Earnhardt, who finished eighth in the
final standings, began posting on Twitter this year after his
victory in the 2014 Daytona 500 and talked about how gratifying it
was to see his timeline explode with tweets from fans who said they
had voted for him as Most Popular Driver.
One of the most touching moments of the evening was the awarding of
the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award to Daniel Noltemeyer, a
founder of the Best Buddies of Kentucky, an organization dedicated
to facilitating the social inclusion of those with intellectual and
developmental disabilities (IDD).
Noltemeyer, who has Down syndrome, has become an enthusiastic
ambassador for Best Buddies International. One of four national
finalists, Noltemeyer received a $100,000 grant for his charity as
the winner of the award, which was conferred for the fourth year.
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