BAKERSFIELD, CA -- During the 1998 racing season, Kevin Harvick was one of the busiest drivers in NASCAR. Harvick not only won the NASCAR Winston West Series Championship, but he also competed in 26 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events and, in his spare time, four NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour events. After such an intense schedule, it came as a shock to some when Harvick chose to concentrate this season on his new NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ride with the No. 98 Porter-Cable Power Tools Racing team.

But those who know Harvick know that he is a true racer and that it's tough to keep a racer out of the driver seat. That's why Harvick will be pulling double duty this weekend at Mesa Marin Raceway by competing in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Dodge Truck Stop 300 race on Saturday and the NASCAR Southwest Tour Series race on Friday night.

"I'm really looking forward to racing in both events this weekend at Mesa Marin Raceway," Harvick said. "I practically grew up at Mesa Marin and it's the track where I learned how to race stock cars. With so many of my racing memories coming at Mesa Marin, I always look forward to coming back."

A busy weekend at Mesa Marin Raceway is nothing new for the 23-year-old Bakersfield native. Last October, Harvick not only ran both the truck series and Southwest Tour races, but also the Winston West Series race and the Winston Racing Series late model event. Harvick put together a tremendous run during his four consecutive nights of racing at Mesa Marin last year. He was leading the late model race on Thursday night before engine problems sidelined him, but followed it up with a win in the Southwest Tour Series race on Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, Harvick strapped into his race truck for a fifth-place run and ended the weekend on Sunday with a fifth-place finish in the Winston West race. As grueling as the schedule was, Harvick said it was probably worth it.

"Last year's schedule was really hectic with all the travel, missed practice days and flying in a day late, but I really enjoyed that weekend at Mesa Marin. After crisscrossing the country last year it was nice to be able to run a bunch of races at one time on one track. I think concentrating on just the truck series this year will help my career in the long run, but it's tough to pass up an opportunity to run the Southwest Tour Series race at Mesa Marin."

In addition to backing his current truck series ride in the No. 98 Ford, Porter-Cable will also sponsor Harvick's No. 75 Porter-Cable Chevrolet in the Southwest Tour event. The Dodge Truck Stop 300 will be run Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Source: Porter-Cable
Posted: 4/7/99