Harvick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Friends are as hard to come by as victories for Kevin Harvick these days. Acquiring a reputation as a reckless bad sport on a losing streak can do that to a guy.

Harvick has reason to think his fortunes might be changing, though. He won the first Winston Cup pole position of his career Friday, qualifying first for the Pepsi 400.

Harvick, who took over the car Dale Earnhardt drove after the Intimidator died last year, circled the 2.5-mile Daytona track at 185.041 mph. That was a healthy 0.668 mph faster than second-place qualifier Geoffrey Bodine, a restrictor-plate specialist racing in just his fourth event of the season.

Defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon (184.271) will go for his first victory of the season from the third position. Harvick's Richard Childress Racing teammate, Robby Gordon, qualified fourth (184.268) for Saturday night's race.

Harvick, mired in 32nd place in the points standings, is seeking his first victory of this, a dismal and tumultuous season.

''We've had a lot of bad luck,'' he said.

But really, more than just luck has put Harvick in this position.

When Earnhardt died last February, Harvick was immediately thrust into a terribly difficult situation, forced to sit behind the wheel of a repainted version of the car that would have belonged to NASCAR's most famous driver.

Harvick, who also raced in and won the Busch series championship last year, handled the pressure well.

He won two races -- including the race in Atlanta three weeks after Earnhardt's death -- and finished second three times. He showed just enough swagger and daring to get the legion of crestfallen Earnhardt fans to believe they might have a new favorite in the guy driving their fallen hero's old car.

This year, however, Harvick has served up all of the bluster with none of the success.

In March, he tangled with Greg Biffle in a Busch race and was put on probation through August. A few weeks later, he intentionally spun out Coy Gibbs during a truck race. NASCAR fined him $35,000 for that one and took the unprecedented step of suspending Harvick for a race.

	Jeff Gordon qualified third for the Pepsi 400.

His critics took to calling him The Instigator -- an unflattering twist on Earnhardt's famous Intimidator tag.

And indeed, so far this year, Harvick has raced more like a pretender to Earnhardt's throne than a legitimate successor. He wrecked in the Daytona 500, at the NAPA Auto Parts 500 in Fontana and ran into various other problems elsewhere. He has finished in the top-5 only once.

All the while, rumors have swirled that he and Childress might split. Harvick has avoided the media and the public, preferring to discuss his situation with the dwindling number of friends who stuck with him.

''There were a lot of fair-weather people who were around our group,'' Harvick said. ''And all of a sudden things go bad, and it's amazing how people don't come around anymore.''

But he has learned from the adversity and now, his future with RCR appears secure. He's negotiating a new, three-year contract. He feels more comfortable thanks to a recent crew change -- Childress swapped Harvick's crew with Robby Gordon's, reuniting Harvick with much of the group that helped him win the Busch title.

Success on the track will follow soon, Harvick insists, if for no other reason than that this team has been through worse troubles.

''The hurdles we have to overcome this year is nothing like what we had to overcome last year,'' he said. ''The hole we were in last year was a lot deeper, a lot more personal. This one is just about race cars.''

At the time of Earnhardt's death, there were two natural places for Earnhardt's fans to gravitate -- to his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., or to Harvick, the guy who drove The Intimidator's car.

Harvick realizes he's lost some of those fans because of the turmoil this season has produced. But he's kept some, too, and he says those who have stuck behind him will be glad they did.

''We're going to climb the mountain and get back to the top,'' he guaranteed.

Despite his pole position, Harvick is still not considered the favorite for Saturday's race.

That tag belongs to Earnhardt Jr., who has won three of the last four restrictor-plate races and is considered a heavy favorite to win again at Daytona.

All NASCAR fans remember his victory last year in the Pepsi 400, a stirring come-from-behind effort in the first race at the famed track since his father's death.

Earnhardt Jr., struggling in 16th place in the standings, qualified ninth for the race, right behind Dale Earnhardt Inc., teammates Steve Park and Michael Waltrip. Including Waltrip's win in the 2001 Daytona 500, DEI cars have won four of the last six races on restrictor-plate tracks.

''You can't argue with their success recently on the speedway programs,'' Kyle Petty said. ''Right now, it seems like all those guys at DEI really have their act together.''