Harvick warns open-wheel drivers

Harvick, a former two-time Nationwide Series champion, believes the likes of Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, Sam Hornish Jr and Patrick Carpentier have rushed into the Cup scene without taking enough time to compete in the lower rankings of NASCAR.

"Coming straight into the Cup Series is going to be harder than any of them would have imagined," Harvick told the Associated Press. "I think they all went down the wrong road.

"It just takes time to establish that foundation. A lot of people from the outside looking in say, 'Well, I race Formula One. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to race the Sprint Cup Series.'

"If you can get over the ego part of it, racing the trucks or the Nationwide Series, you'd be better off, I think."

The RCR driver has his own team both in the Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series. He still competes regularly in both series and is set to drive his own car for most of the Nationwide Series season.

Villeneuve, Franchitti, Hornish and Carpentier, have all competed in a handful of races in either the trucks or the Nationwide, but Harvick believes they would be better off doing all the learning out of the spotlight that comes with racing in Cup.

"I just feel like racing for a championship and really getting that week-to-week grind out of the way in the truck or Nationwide and doing it almost out of the spotlight is a lot better," Harvick added.

"When you wreck (in the Sprint Cup), they're going to say, 'Oh, there's that open-wheel guy, he's wrecking again.' It's almost unfair, but it's just the situation they've all put themselves in."

The most recent Daytona 500 winner also said he doesn't expect this year's rookie class of open-wheel drivers to match what Juan Pablo Montoya achieved in his debut season last year, although he expects them to shine on the road-courses.

Harvick is likely to race against all the open-wheel rookies in the coming Daytona 500.