Bremerton Motorsports Park Raceway

Admin | December 28, 2011 | Comments Off

Bremerton Motorsports Park Raceway

Bremerton Motorsports Park Raceway

A look back at a decade of rookies in NASCAR

Take a look at the 2000 rookie class

2001 Rookie Class

1. Kevin Harvick- Harvick replaced the late Dale Earnhardt following the tragic accident at Daytona. No other driver encountered as much pressure as Harvick in 2001. The unproven youngster won the Rookie of the Year for Richard Childress in the NASCAR Nationwide Series the year before, and the plan was to promote him to the Cup series in 2002 with Earnhardt as a mentor. He was to drive the third RCR car sponsored by America Online. Harvick captured an emotional victory at Atlanta in just his third start roughly a monthly after Earnhardt’s passing. The win somewhat eased the pain of losing Dale Earnhardt, at least for a day. He won at Chicagoland that July, and clinched the Rookie of the Year honors while finishing ninth in the standings. Furthermore, he won the Nationwide Series title, and paved the way for the current trend of full-time Cup drivers running a full-time Nationwide schedule. Harvick won the 2006 Nationwide title, the 2007 Daytona 500, and his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team won the series’ title in 2007 with Ron Hornaday as the driver. Overall, Harvick has earned eleven career victories, and won the 2007 All-Star event.