For 2001, Childress planned to run Harvick in the #2 Chevy in the Busch Series full-time again, while developing him into the Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) with up to seven races in the #30 AOL Chevy. He planned to race Harvick for a full schedule in 2002. The death of Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 changed Childress's plans, and Harvick began his first Sprint Cup race the following week in Rockingham at the Dura Lube 400. For Harvick's first two races, the car ran an inverted color scheme, the number changed from 3 to 29, and the pit crew wore generic uniforms. In the third race of the season, the car was painted white and red, while Harvick wore a white-and-red uniform. His pit crew continued to wear the traditional GM Goodwrench Service Plus uniforms.
On March 11, 2001 at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500, only three weeks after Earnhardt's death, Harvick won his first career Winston Cup victory in just his third start by narrowly edging Jeff Gordon at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He won the race by only six one-thousandths of a second (.006), proving to be one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history since the introduction of electronic scoring in 1993. After the win, Harvick performed a tire-smoking burnout on the front stretch. Remembering Dale Earnhardt, with three fingers held aloft outside the driver's window, he ran the track backwards as a show of honor and respect.[3] Winning in his third career start, Harvick became the fastest driver to win his first Winston Cup race in the modern era, breaking the record set by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2000. That record was previously held by the elder Earnhardt.
Harvick went on to win 23 times driving the #29 car. In what season did Harvick move to the #4 car of Stewart-Haas Racing?
1. 2005 (N 33 34.422 W 086 04.431)
2. 2009 (N 33 33.887 W 086 02.219)
3. 2014 (N 33 34.842 W 086 05.355)