Kevin Harvick eager to deliver Sprint Cup championship to Tony Stewart

Now in his 14th season in NASCAR’s premier series and first with Stewart-Haas Racing, Kevin Harvick jokes he’s just beginning the second half of his career.

If this is in fact the beginning of ACT II, then Harvick is off to a wonderful start. Forming instant chemistry with crew chief Rodney Childers, the No. 4 group quickly ascended as the team to beat week in, week out in 2014. In just his second race with SHR Harvick went to Victory Lane and amassed three other wins -- a number that would have been far higher were it not a rash of gremlins, sour luck and mistakes -- while leading a series-best 2,083 laps.

That performance has placed Harvick in a position he’s never been previously. Of the four drivers who advanced through the Chase for the Sprint Cup it is Harvick, 38, who is considered the likeliest to capture the championship Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“I think you come in with that confidence and knowing that your cars have been fast,” Harvick said. “You just want to just keep doing the things that you’ve been doing and knowing that if you do those things right, your car is going to run fast enough to win the race, which is what you need to do. That’s really what it comes down to. I believe that we have the cars that are capable to win every week and I don’t believe this week will be any different.”

While paying dividends now, the decision to leave Richard Childress Racing after 13 largely successful, though sometimes turbulent, seasons was not clear-cut. But yearning for a championship and feeling he had leveled off, Harvick made the decision to join SHR, co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas.

Making that choice far easier was Harvick’s close friendship with Stewart. Promising he would build the team around Harvick and that there would be no shortage of resources at his disposal were the main selling points.

“You just never know how (switching teams) will pan out,” Harvick said. “I’m as proud of the situation and the life decisions that (wife) DeLana and I made to get to this point and see them be as successful as they have been. It’s been pretty rewarding.”

Said Stewart: “It’s my job to make sure I’m doing everything we can to give those guys an opportunity to be in this position and that’s what we’ve done with Kevin this year.”

The bond between the two is such Harvick and Stewart shared an emotional embrace in Victory Lane at Phoenix International Raceway where by winning the race, Harvick clinched a spot in the final four.

And when Harvick concluded his postrace media obligations, he had a special visitor waiting for him in his motorhome. Having been through what Harvick was about to experience, Stewart offered some sage advice on how to handle the week -- not as a boss, but as a friend.

“You know how hard it is to get here, especially with the intensity we’ve seen in the Chase this year,” Stewart said. “And here we are with a shot to win this championship. To be a part of this opportunity with him, to do it with a good friend, is really special because this is something I really want for him.”

And if Sunday’s championship finale goes as many expect, another reward for Harvick will come in the form of being able to deliver a title to his much maligned boss and friend.

The past 15 months have been the most arduous of Stewart’s life. An August 2013 sprint car crash left the three-time Cup champion with a right leg broken in two places. The injury sidelined Stewart for the remaining 15 races and, still not 100 percent, has also impacted him this season. (Unless he wins Sunday, 2014 will mark the first time Stewart’s failed to win a single race.)

The tribulations continued this past August when Stewart was involved in an incident which took the life of driver Kevin Ward Jr. During a sprint car race in upstate New York, Stewart’s car struck and killed Ward, who was on-foot and walking towards the bottom of the track under caution.

A criminal investigation commenced with a grand jury eventually clearing Stewart of any wrongdoing, but the tragedy left him emotionally devastated. He described the events as a “sadness and a pain I hope no one ever has to experience in their life.”

It’s against this backdrop Harvick hopes to be able to provide Stewart some solace with the organization’s second championship Sunday.

“There was a lot of emotion and obviously, Tony and I have a very close relationship from a friendship standpoint that goes back a very long time,” Harvick said. “He’s been through a lot this year. If we can be that one shining moment that makes his day better. For me, I want to see my friend smile. We’ve built strong relationships through the race team personally.”