HAMPTON, Ga. - Kevin Harvick got tired of watching Kyle Busch win so many truck races. He’s done something about it. Now the man to beat when he shows up for a NASCAR truck race, Harvick pulled away from Busch for a dominating victory yesterday in the E-Z-GO 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Harvick’s crew made only one slight adjustment on his Chevrolet truck, taking out three-10ths of a pound of air in the right rear tire on the first pit stop. It was clear from the start he had a machine to beat as long as he stayed out of trouble.

Kevin Harvick overcame a pair of horrendous pit stops to win the Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Harvick led 83 of the 200 laps yesterday but had to rally after his crew cost him several spots on pit road. “You look like a bunch of idiots on pit road,“ he told his Kevin Harvick Inc. crew after their first slow stop.

FONTANA, Calif.—Jimmie Johnson caught a huge break on his last stop, getting on pit road only seconds before the caution flag came out, and held off a charging Kevin Harvick in the closing laps to win the Auto Club 500 yesterday. After winning his unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship last season, Johnson started this season by finishing 35th at the Daytona 500.

Want to win a few bucks in a pre-race bet with friends? See if they can name the driver who has led the most laps at Richmond International Raceway over the past nine Sprint Cup races. Hint: He’s nowhere to be found in any Chase conversation this year. Indeed, Kevin Harvick won’t be a factor in this year’s Chase, but he’s returning to a track where he is desperately seeking a turnaround to what has been a dismal season.

WELCOME, N.C. - Team owner Richard Childress reiterated yesterday that Kevin Harvick will be back in his car next season despite rumors to the contrary. “We want to put the rumors behind us by stating together that Kevin will drive RCR’s No. 29 . . . for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season,“ Childress said. It’s the second time in two months that Childress has publicly had to address speculation about Harvick’s future with the team, which has been scrutinized during his worst season in nine years at RCR. Winless since the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500, Harvick is 24th in the standings and won’t participate in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. They called him “Happy Harvick” at the start of his NASCAR career, when success came so easy that Kevin Harvick had a seemingly perpetual smile. It’s been quite some time since the nickname fit. Harvick’s been rather unhappy of late and struggling through the worst slump of his career - a winless streak that dates 90 points races, to the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500. It’s so bad that his name has been thrown into the rumor mill, with mounting speculation that he’s trying to weasel his way out of Richard Childress Racing.

SONOMA, Calif. - Kevin Harvick arrived at Infineon Raceway convinced the longest drought of his Sprint Cup Series career can come to an end this weekend on the winding California road course. His statistics say otherwise. His last Cup points victory was 86 races ago, dating back to the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500. He’s a skilled road racer, but has been hit-or-miss over the years on Sonoma’s scenic course.

General Motors has told NASCAR teams it is cutting back on its support in all of the sanctioning body’s professional series. Among the teams already notified that they will lose funding are JR Motorsports, owned by Sprint Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kevin Harvick Inc., co-owned by Cup star Harvick and his wife, DeLana. JRM races in the second-tier Nationwide Series, while KHI has entries in Nationwide and the third-tier Camping World Truck Series.

Mark Martin doesn’t want to drive race cars forever. But as long as he can compete at the highest level, he can’t bring himself to walk away from NASCAR. Martin said yesterday he’ll run a full season next year, his 22nd in NASCAR.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Statistics make it difficult to find much wrong with Richard Childress Racing, which has three drivers in the top 16 of the Sprint Cup Series standings. But a poor showing at Phoenix International Raceway, where their cars are typically strong, proved RCR has a ways to go before it can realistically win a championship.

MARTINSVILLE—With just over nine laps to go, Kevin Harvick passed Kyle Busch and went on to win this afternoon’s 250-lap NASCAR truck race at Martinsville Speedway. Harvick, who had been behind Busch for 67 laps, dropped to the inside and prevailed in the ensuing side-by-side duel. He stayed in front the rest of the way. The race—delayed from Saturday because of rain—was run before a very sparse crowd of a few thousand at the half-mile track.