 | | Kevin Harvick won his first pole since September of 2005. Credit: Autostock |
The Associated Press
September 15, 2006
06:20 PM EDT (22:20 GMT)
LOUDON, N.H. -- It seems the pressure is definitely off now that the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship is ready to begin. Kevin Harvick main objective Friday was to gain a little revenge on rookie Denny Hamlin, who hit the veteran in the face with a pie during a TV appearance 24 hours earlier. And winning the pole for Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway was nice, too. "The biggest goal I had was to get Denny Hamlin," Harvick said minutes after winning his first pole in more than a year. "We've been planning that all day. He got me pretty good [Thursday] on the Regis and Kelly show. "I didn't say anything. I just waited until the opportune moment and I got even. It was pretty cool." Payback came moments after Hamlin qualified. The youngster got out of his car on pit road and had just begun an interview with several TV reporters when Harvick stepped up with a pan filled with whipped cream and put it squarely in Hamlin's face. That done, Harvick turned his attention back to racing. But the six-year Cup veteran is having fun on the track, too. Harvick, who qualified easily for the 10-race Chase, got off to a solid start with his fifth career pole. "I think this is fun," said Harvick, who took the top spot in Sunday's race with a lap of 132.282 mph on the 1.058-mile New Hampshire oval. "Racing for a championship has to be fun." If that is true, then the Richard Childress Racing driver should be having a ball. He has all but wrapped up the Busch Series title already -- holding a 619-point lead on Carl Edwards with just seven races to go -- and also is one of only 10 drivers with a chance to win the 2006 Cup title. "I think we are a favorite," said Harvick, coming off a Cup victory last Saturday night at Richmond, where the pressure was still on for a group of drivers racing to qualify for the Chase. It's not too surprising that Harvick, who last won a pole in September 2005 at Richmond, is feeling confident right now. The entire Childress team has been resurgent this season, with Harvick, third in the season points, leading the way. "It is something that everybody feels good about," Harvick said. "All the hard work this team has put in the last year-and-a-half to make our cars better and do things better as we go forward. "Everyone at RCR is confident and feels good about the performance of our cars. We look forward to coming to the track every week. Everybody feels good about themselves, but it is all about these next 10 weeks." Jeff Gordon, another Chase driver, wound up second in Friday's qualifying at 131.751, followed by Penske Racing South teammates Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman at 131.483 and 131.216, respectively, and Hamlin, the first rookie to make the Chase in the three years it has been run. Series leader Matt Kenseth qualified 25th, runner-up Jimmie Johnson was seventh and the rest of the Chase contenders were scattered through the 43-car field, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. eighth, Kyle Busch 16th, Harvick's teammate Jeff Burton 22nd, Mark Martin 26th and Kasey Kahne 33rd. Meanwhile, Hamlin -- known as a jokester -- isn't ready to forget that pie in the face. "It definitely ain't over," he said. "We're going to keep this going. This is a lot of fun." Harvick had an answer for that, too. "I am all about this stuff," he said. "If it continues, we will just keep playing the game and try to stay one notch up." | 
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