Earnhardt fans take Harvick to their hearts

Harvick was scheduled to concentrate on a full programme in NASCAR's second-tier Busch Series this season, with only seven Winston Cup races in a third RCR-entered car on his schedule. But following Earnhardt's death, team boss Childress has promoted Harvick to a full Cup campaign with Earnhardt's sponsor GM Goodwrench, albeit in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo carrying the number 29 and not Earnhardt's famous number three.

Harvick raced in Saturday's Busch race at Rockingham - the curtain-raiser to today's (Sunday's) Cup race - and received a rousing reception from the stands.

After qualifying only 22nd, Harvick battled his way to the lead pack and finished second behind Todd Bodine.

"There's a whole bunch of people sitting in the stands with a lot of things going through their minds," Harvick said afterwards. "There's a lot more support than I realized.

"I knew the people at RCR were behind me and the people that surround the company were very supportive and understand the situation, but obviously, there are some pretty intelligent race fans because they understand what's going on. Not only does Dale Earnhardt have intelligent race fans, but he has a lot of them."

Harvick, who retains the services of Earnhardt's crew chief Kevin Hamlin, has qualified 36th for Rockingham's Winston Cup race. His RCR team leader Mike Skinner was forced to take a provisional slot after qualifying slower than Harvick and will start 37th.

The three cars entered by Dale Earnhardt Inc, Steve Park, Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr, are second, seventh and 25th respectively.


For the full Dura Lube 400 qualifying results click here.