Harvick Could Wrap-Up BGN Championship at Rockingham

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. - NASCAR Busch Series points leader Kevin Harvick can clinch the NASCAR Busch Series title with a strong run at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham on Saturday during the Sam's Club 200.

Second to Harvick in points is defending champion Jeff Green, who sits 198 points behind last year's Busch Series Rookie of the Year. In a nutshell, if Harvick is leading the Busch Series points standings by 186 points as the teams leave Rockingham, he clinches the title regardless of how he finishes the final race of the season at Homestead on November 10th.

Harvick essentially has a 12-point cushion over Green in order to clinch the title. Here are some hypothetical situations:

1) If Green were to win the race and lead the most laps, he would receive 185 points. Harvick would then have to finish second and lead at least one lap to clinch the title (175 points).

2) If Green were to finish fifth without leading at least one lap, he would record a point total of 155. Harvick would then have to finish seventh or better to clinch the championship (146 points).

3) If Green were to finish 10th without leading at least one lap, Harvick would then have to finish 13th or better.

The ACDelco team can not, however, forget about third place Jason Keller who is just 27 points behind Green and 225 behind Harvick. If Harvick and Green were to have poor finishes, Keller could easily jump back into the championship hunt for the final race.

If Harvick were to run into bad luck in Rockingham and Green were to finish first and lead the most laps, Harvick would have just a 47-point lead heading into Homestead.

"We're approaching Rockingham like we have every other racetrack this season," Harvick said. "We're going to stay with what got us here and that's aggressive racing. I'm not saying that I'm going to put myself in bad situations on the racetrack, but we think we can go out and contend for the win. If we don't get the win, hopefully we can get a top five and wrap up the championship."

If Harvick were to clinch the title for RCR this weekend, Richard Childress Racing would enter the record books yet again. With a Busch title, RCR would become the first race team in the history of NASCAR to win at least one championship in each of NASCAR's three major series, Winston Cup (Dale Earnhardt, 1986, 87, 90, 91, 93, & 94), the Busch Series and the Truck Series (Mike Skinner 1995).

It would mean a lot to me," Harvick said, "to help give Richard his first Busch Championship. We've only been involved in it two years, but it would be an honor for me because Richard has done more for me than just about anybody else in racing."