A NONSTOP SCHEDULE APPEALS TO HARVICK.(Sports)

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

Newly crowned NASCAR Busch Grand National champion Kevin Harvick has been keeping himself busy this winter.

Not that it should matter much for Harvick, who is coming off a NASCAR schedule last year that must have had him experiencing deja vu almost every weekend.

In addition to driving the Richard Childress Racing No. 2 AC Delco Chevy on the Busch circuit, Harvick took over as driver for Dale Earnhardt's team after the seven-time Winston Cup champion was killed on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

Harvick, who was in Los Angeles for the NASCAR Busch Grand National awards banquet two weeks ago, competed in every Busch Series and all but one Winston Cup race last year. He earned Winston Cup rookie-of-the-year honors in the No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevy for RCR.

So it should come as no surprise Harvick hasn't let up much. Preparing for a full season of Winston Cup racing would be enough for most drivers. But Harvick has a gas tank full of other projects on which he's been working.

He will be competing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway a couple weeks before his first Daytona 500. He also has put together a NASCAR Craftsman Series Truck team with Rick Carelli as his driver.

``I wanted to learn how the business works as an owner,'' said Harvick, a former Winston West champion from Bakersfield. ``This was the most efficient way to do it, mess up and not have it cost millions and millions of dollars.''

Harvick said he plans on racing in a few Truck Series events as well as Busch Series events in 2002. He even promised fellow Winston Cup driver Tony Stewart a shot behind the wheel in his truck.

At the forefront of Harvick's recent endeavors is his entry in the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Feb. 2-3, when he will compete in his first Rolex 24 with Carelli and ARCA driver John Metcalf. The three will join Dave Liniger in the RE/MAX Racing No. 90 Corvette of Flis Motorsports in the American GT class.

Harvick is not the lone NASCAR driver to enter the Rolex 24. The starting grid at Daytona is looking more like a NASCAR event than an endurance race with each passing day.

Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, will be driving with the Crawford Race Cars factory team with Jan Lammers and Johnny Mowlem. The Crawford team will be competing in the Sports Racing Prototype class.

Winston Cup star Kyle Petty, driver of the No. 45 Sprint Dodge, will race in his second consecutive Rolex 24, this time joined by Petty Racing teammate John Andretti, driver of the No. 43 Cheerios Dodge. Petty and Andretti will be racing in the No. 43 Porsche GT3 R of Orbit Racing in the GT class with Leo Hindery and Peter Baron.

Richard Childress Racing driver Robby Gordon will partner with former Indy Racing League champion Scott Sharp in the Riley & Scott Mark III-C factory team of Matthews Racing. Gordon won the GTO/GTS class in the Rolex 24 from 1990-93 and Sharp was the overall winner in the 1996 Daytona race. They will team up with owner Jim Matthews and Guy Smith in the No. 36 Elan- engined Riley & Scott entry in the SportsRacing Prototype class.

Former Winston Cup driver turned commentator Wally Dallenbach will join IRL driver Steve Knapp in the Robinson Racing No. 74 Riley & Scott Mark III-C. Jack Baldwin and George Robinson round out the Robinson Racing team.

And for good measure, IRL driver Anthony Lazzaro, CART driver Max Papis and former NASCAR and open-wheel star Scott Pruett will be racing for different teams.

--SCORE announces schedule: Los Angeles-based SCORE International announced on Monday its six-race Duralast Desert Series off-road racing schedule for the 2002 season. The season kicks off today with the Laughlin Desert Challenge in Laughlin, Nev.

Three races will be run in the Nevada desert and three will be in Baja California. Included in the Nevada races will be the inaugural Henderson's Terrible 250 from July 11-14.

The 34th Baja 500 will be May 31-June 2 and the 35th Baja 1000, the season finale, will be Nov. 8-11.

--Tickets on sale at California Speedway: Individual race tickets for the four major weekends at California Speedway are on sale via the Internet at www.californiaspeedway.com.

Individual tickets will go on sale over the telephone Monday, and the track box office will be selling tickets Tuesday.

To order tickets by phone, call (800) 944-RACE.

The four race weekends at California Speedway are the Indy Racing League and Grand American Road Racing Association weekend, March 22-24; the U.S. Superbike Championship, April 6-7; the NASCAR Winston Cup NAPA Auto Parts 500 and Busch Grand National, IROC Series and Winston West weekend, April 5-7; and the CART FedEx Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series weekend, Nov. 1-3.