FYI WIRZ: NASCAR’s truck teams shed jobs as Kevin Harvick shutters KHI

Author: Dwight Drum racetake.com

Kevin Harvick nixed summer rumors when he announced the merger of KHI and RCR in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, a new two-car team, and shuttered his Camping World Truck Series team for 2012. Many suspected lurid causes, but Harvick was specific about his thoughts and reasons.

“The reactions have just been crazy as far as the way the rumors have spun out of control. DeLana and I have just kind of sat back and laughed at a lot of them. But I feel like as a couple, and as a group at KHI, we’ve made a lot of good business decisions over the course of the years. And it’s going to allow us time to explore other business opportunities as well.”

KHI is not the only team to notify crew members that they will be cutting back. Germain Racing minority owners Mike Hillman, Sr., and Mike Hillman, Jr., informed their NASCAR Camping World Truck Series employees of shutdowns. Team members, like many at KHI, are free to pursue options for the 2012 season.

The problem in the NCWTS garage and shops may be that too many seeking options will overload the job market and put many in unemployment lines.

“The Truck program is really…it’s just a tough; it’s a tough model business-wise. We have scrimped and scraped and got the sponsorship and things that you need. But from a business standpoint, sometimes you just have to make the decisions as to what you want to do and for us it just didn’t make sense.”

One loyal sponsor, JEGS High Performance Parts, supported Harvick despite his business decisions. Scott “Woody” Woodruff, JEGS Director of Media & Motorsports, commented on the role of JEGS.com on Harvick’s No 2 NCWTS Chevrolet at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in late September.

“New Hampshire will likely be one of if not the last truck race for Kevin Harvick … and JEGS is along for the ride. Kevin is a competitor on and off the track and will want to end on a high note. He will give it everything he has behind the wheel and maybe a little more in New Hampshire. That’s my take on it.”

JEGS, a NASCAR contingency sponsor in Sprint Cup and Nationwide, may follow Harvick to Nationwide, but many NCWTS sponsors may not.

With KHI shutting down and Germain Racing cutting back it’s obvious parts, haulers and other equipment will be up for sale. Whether the moves by these two big names will hamper the truck series is unsettled at this point.

Harvick gave more reasons for the big decision.

“Takes an extreme amount of pressure off of me as a driver and an owner,” Harick said.
“On the Cup side you are still going to have to do 80 or 90 appearances a year. Hopefully it allows you to spend more time with the sponsors and you do not have to have so many of them split up.

“There are some normal things that you can do in life too, I hear. Hopefully we can experience some of those.”

Harvick was quick to point out his main purpose.

“The only thing that I want to do that we haven’t been able to accomplish in my career is win a Cup championship. That is what we are after.”

The bottom line for Harvick might just have been a bottom line. KHI operations were successful in arranging multiple sponsorships over time while logging two NCWTS championships and many wins. But the process of acquiring sponsors race to race became a tiring if not overwhelming task.

In the end, it may simply have become a burden even while winning.

It seems Harvick may be swapping the spinning of wheels for a more secure arrangement with RCR, one that affords him more energy to get up on the steering wheel and snatch the championship from Jimmiie Johnson and the 48 team.

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes and information were obtained from official release materials provided by NASCAR and team representatives.

Author: Dwight Drum racetake.com