Richard Childress Racing and Kevin Harvick Incorporated have reached agreement on a collaborative effort that will have KHI’s current NASCAR Nationwide Series program merge with RCR beginning in 2012. The decision is the coming together of the best of the two organizations. KHI will continue to be involved on the business and competition sides with RCR and KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick will still be very active in the Nationwide Series program. The #2 and #33 teams will continue with drivers Elliott Sadler (#2 Chevy) and a combination of RCR’s Sprint Cup Series drivers in the #33 Chevy. The merger will benefit KHI’s current sponsors with increased resources and business-to-business opportunities.(RCR)(9-7-2011)
UPDATE: Kevin Harvick talked to the media Friday morning at Richmond:
COULD YOU CLARIFY WHAT IS KHI AFTER THIS SEASON? YOU’VE GOT CHASSIS-BUILDING STUFF. WHAT’S GOING TO BE IN THAT SHOP?
“As we’ve gone through the months, that’s a lot of the things that you haven’t seen. The customer stuff has basically been shut off for several months as the process has kind of been starting to be put in place. The manufacturing side has been shut down for a month now; so there have been a lot of things that have started to progress and take part as we’ve led up into these moments of today. Kevin Harvick Inc. will basically become the #2 and the #33 cars, we’ll still have an interest in the decisions and the things that happen at RCR. It’s just going to operate under that particular roof. And really, that’s not a lot different than the way Richard (Childress) and I have done things the last couple of years anyway. We talk constantly and it brings a lot of people together to put in situations that should be better for Cup, Truck, and Nationwide. But Kevin Harvick Inc. will actually just become Kevin Harvick Inc. for myself like it used to be back in the day. We’ll handle all my personal stuff, and other businesses and things that function out of there, fan club, fan material, website stuff, that we’ll operate in the office side. But the racing portion of Kevin Harvick, Inc., the only part that will still exist, we’ll operate out of RCR. But there won’t be anything racing-wise operating out of our shop.”(Chevy PR)(9-9-2011)
