Daytona 500 - 2007 Winner - Kevin Michael Harvick

Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975 in Bakersfield, California) is an American race car driver and car owner, competing in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series for Richard Childress Racing, driving the #29 Shell/Pennzoil/Reese's Chevrolet in Cup racing full-time and the #21 AutoZone Chevrolet part-time in the Busch Series, and in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series, where he drives cars and trucks that his own team fields. Harvick is the owner of the #2 and #33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverados in the Craftsman Truck Series, and the #33 Old Spice / RoadLoans.com and #77 Dollar General Chevrolet in the Busch Series.

2007 Season

In 2007, the team again split primary sponsors, with Hershey's being joined by new primary sponsor Shell and their Pennzoil brand.[3] On Sunday, February 18, 2007 in the season opening Daytona 500, Harvick claimed his first NASCAR Nextel Cup Series victory in a restrictor plate race with a dramatic final lap pass over Mark Martin by .020 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish, the closest margin at the 500 since electronic scoring started in 1993. The race was on the sixth anniversary of the death of his predecessor at Richard Childress Racing, Dale Earnhardt. He would become only the fourth NASCAR driver to sweep both the Busch and Cup races in the opening weekend at Daytona (along with Bobby Allison (1988), Darrell Waltrip (1989), and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2004) ). Harvick also tied Benny Parsons for the fewest number of laps led by a Daytona 500 winner, who did it in 1975 (the year Harvick was born) with four laps. He started 34th (lowest ever by a winner at the track), and became the first Busch Series Champion to win the Daytona 500 the following year. With the win, Harvick also became only the sixth driver to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 joining Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.

On February 22nd, 2007, four days after Kevin won the Daytona 500 in his inaugural race with Shell-Pennzoil as a primary sponsor, Harvick's team owner, Richard Childress Racing, was asked by NASCAR to downsize the Shell logo on his fire suit and to have Harvick wear a more prominent Pennzoil logo, in an effort to play down any perceived competition with SUNOCO. SUNOCO asked NASCAR to talk with Richard Childress after Harvick won both the Busch Series and NEXTEL Cup Series races wearing a prominent Shell logo on his fire suit.

Kevin's 2007 season so far has had its peaks and dips, and he came to Lowe's Motor Speedway hoping to win his first NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, using an RCR car built and raced in 2006 but with the new GM RO7 engine installed for this race. He finished second in 2006 to Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie Johnson made one last attempt at a pass on the outside in Turns 3 & 4 during the race, but Harvick slid up the track to block Johnson and that was all Kevin needed to do to win his first million dollar check at Lowe's. Kevin's total winnings added up to $1,021,539. He said that he would share the money with his crew.

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