Harvick Wants Out At RCR...?

((HT: ESPN/Newton))

Richard Childress Racing driver Kevin Harvick ((pictured, thanks autoracingdaily.com)) would like to be released from the final year of his contract that expires in 2010, a source close to the situation said on Wednesday.

"He's making that evident," the source said.

Harvick is 25th in points and hasn't won a Sprint Cup race since the 2007 Daytona 500.

According to a report on SI.com, Harvick would like to move to Stewart-Haas Racing and take his primary sponsor, Shell/Pennzoil, with him. The report said Shell's contract expires after this season, but multiple sources told ESPN.com the deal runs through 2010.

Sources added that it is unlikely RCR owner Richard Childress would let both the driver and sponsor go, particularly in today's economic climate.

In a statement released Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing said it expected Harvick to honor his contract.

"Richard Childress Racing has a multiyear contract with Shell-Pennzoil that includes the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Shell-Pennzoil remains a great partner for RCR and Kevin Harvick as well as our sport overall. RCR also has a multiyear contract with Kevin Harvick that includes the 2010 season. That said, Shell will be the sponsor and Kevin will be the driver of RCR's No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS in 2010."

Harvick moved into a full-time Cup ride for RCR in 2001 after the death of Dale Earnhardt. He has since formed his own Truck Series and Nationwide Series teams under Kevin Harvick Inc. Before that he drove in the Truck Series for Spears Motorsports.

Tony Stewart and SHR teammate Ryan Newman are among several drivers sharing a ride in Harvick's No. 33 Nationwide car this season. Among the sponsors are Old Spice and Army, which are primary sponsors for Stewart's Cup team.

A spokesman for Harvick had no comment when contacted by ESPN.com.

UPDATE: Richard Childress, pretty much, squashed it... at SI.com

Kevin Harvick is under contract with Richard Childress Racing for one more season, and the team expects him to drive the No. 29 in 2010.

RCR released a statement Wednesday responding to a report on SI.com that Harvick wanted out of his deal and was hopeful of moving to Stewart-Hass Racing.

Richard Childress says RCR has a multiyear contract with Harvick and sponsor Shell-Pennzoil. Childress says "Shell will be the sponsor and Kevin will be the driver of RCR's No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS in 2010."

Harvick is 25th in the points standing this season. He hasn't won a Cup race since the 2007 Daytona 500.

Here's that win at Daytona in 2007
((HT: NASCAR on FOX))

Stewart Gets Revenge In Nationwide Series Race At Daytona

Tony Stewart must have channeled all that anger from Goodyear on his way to taking the checkers in the Camping World 300 Nationwide race Saturday at Daytona International Raceway.

Stewart had to hold off his former Joe Gibbs Racing team mate Kyle Busch to cross the finish line first.

So all was not lost for Stewart Haas Racing at Daytona.

Here's the finish from the 4-letter [HT: ESPN/You Tube]

Tony Stewart On Goodyear Tires - They Blow

Tony Stewart is not a happy man on the eve of the Daytona 500. During the final Cup practice Saturday His Stewart-Haas Racing team mate Ryan Newman blew a tire, a Goodyear tire, and collected Stewart damaging his primary car and forcing Newman to go to his second back up car for the Great American Race Sunday.

Newman's tire blowout lead to another blow up on Goodyear tires by Tony Stewart.

"It's just a Goodyear right-rear tire," Stewart said. "So it's the same thing everybody has been talking about all week. It's the same stuff that we always talk about every year -- the failures that Goodyear has. I think that's part of their marketing campaign. The more we talk about it, the more press they get. I think they forget that it's supposed to be in a good way, not a bad way."

"It was just unfortunate." Ryan Newman said. "We took out my teammate. I don't even know who else was caught up in it. I'm just disappointed in the situation Goodyear has put us in. ... It is ridiculous the situation we are in with these tires."

Tony Stewart has had an issue with Goodyear tires for quite a while. He's not at all happy that NASCAR insists on using one tire manufacturer and not open to competition. While racing in other types of cars, Stewart uses Hoosier tires.

"It's just frustrating because the gold-and-blue down there [where Goodyear is located in the Daytona garage] are the cause of another deal," Stewart said. "I'm just so tired of talking about Goodyear, it's ridiculous. I'm just over it."

Yeah right, you are over it... not. I willing to bet Goodyear tires aren't on his personal vehicle.

"Apparently this is their marketing strategy to get press. I'm just tired of talking about them, tired of them being an issue. And us talking about them right now isn't going to change anything because it falls on deaf ears and won't change." Stewart said.

When asked if he still had a chance to win the Daytona 500 Stewart shot back, "I don't know, rocket scientist. I'm sitting here with a backup car. What do you think?" Well I guess it doesn't take a scientific rocket to figure out Stewart chances are pretty much blown as well as his SHR team mate Ryan Newman.

Of course Goodyear Tires has a different perspective. Stu Grant, Goodyear's director of worldwide racing, is insisting the company brought a competent tire for the Daytona 500 and Newman's blowout has caused by a puncture from debris.

"It's obviously something that was on the race track." Grant said. "It could have been something that had fallen off one of the cars ahead of him. It could have been something that laid on the pavement for a while, and as the cars went by it moved it to a configuration where it could puncture a tire. We see a lot of those kinds of cases."

As for Stewart, he's not ready to make nice with Goodyear.

"Don't get them anywhere near me," Stewart said when asked if he had spoken to any Goodyear officials. "Don't bring them anywhere close; don't let them come close. I don't want anything to do with them."

Here's the wreck from our friends at Speed.