AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Richard Childress was visibly upset as he stood next to grandson Ty Dillon's black truck during Friday's qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway.

It had nothing to do with Dillon's chances to win the Camping World Truck Series championship, trailing James Buescher by 15 points with two races remaining.

It had everything to do with an ESPN.com report that Sprint Cup driver Kevin Harvick has signed a multi-year deal to begin driving for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.

"I've got a contract for 2013 and this is 2012," the owner of Richard Childress Racing said of his deal with Harvick. "I'm not talking to you about nothing [regarding that]. Too far out."

Asked if Harvick had told him he will not drive for RCR beyond 2013, Childress barked, "You need to go talk to them people. Don't talk to me about it. If you want to talk to me about [the truck] championship, I'll talk about it. But don't talk to me about anything else."

It has been 18 years since Childress won the last of his six Cup titles with the late Dale Earnhardt. Harvick was RCR's lone Chase competitor this season and has been the only legitimate title contender for the organization the past two seasons, finishing third each year.

Losing him was the last thing Childress needed.

Harvick's departure will be huge, particularly if he takes primary sponsor Budweiser with him. Remember, RCR lost Chaser Clint Bowyer to Michael Waltrip Racing after last season due to lack of sponsorship and had to shrink from four to three teams.

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John Harrelson/Getty ImagesKevin Harvick has driven for Richard Childress at the Sprint Cup level since 2001. That relationship appears to be ending.

Some will say Harvick leaving only opens the door for Childress' other grandson, Nationwide Series driver Austin Dillon, to move to Cup in 2014.

But plans already were in place for Dillon to make the move then, either in the fourth car that is vacant or as a replacement for Jeff Burton, whose contract expires after 2013.

And by the way, while Dillon will make his Daytona 500 debut in the No. 33 next year, Childress left open the possibility the No. 3 Earnhardt drove remains a strong possibility for his grandson.

"That's still on the table," Childress said.

What isn't on the table, according to Marty Smith's report, is Harvick. Smith's sources say the deal has been signed.

Sources close to the situation told me Childress was blindsided by the news, which explains his mood. Replacing Harvick has to now be his No. 1 goal in order to remain relevant in the series.

As good as Dillon has been in the Nationwide Series, he remains an unknown in Cup. Burton appears past his prime and Paul Menard, beyond winning the Brickyard 400 last year, has done little to prove worthy of filling Harvick's shoes.

Convincing a sponsor to add 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch to the mix may be the best solution. Busch already has a good relationship with Childress, often going to him for advice.

Busch already is driving a Furniture Row Racing car with a Childress engine the rest of this season and in 2013.

No matter what you think of Busch's off the track -- and sometimes on the track -- behavior, he would give RCR a legitimate threat to compete for the championship.

RCR needs that.

This is a pivotal time in the history of Childress' organization. It recently lost Earnhardt Ganassi Racing as an engine customer to Hendrick Motorsports for 2013. It apparently has lost Harvick to an SHR team that has HMS support.

By 2014, if it hasn't done so already, RCR could go from the second-best Chevy team to third behind HMS and SHR. It could even fall to fourth behind EGR.

So you can see why Childress would be visibly upset.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images/NASCARThe back of Kevin Harvick's car says it all for the new father.

LOUDON, N.H. -- Baby talk and triathlons.

That's what you may have missed over the past week as the Sprint Cup world focused on AJ Allmendinger's suspension for a failed drug test and the subsequent news and speculation.

If you didn't hear, Kevin and Delana Harvick became first-time parents -- no, dogs and cats don't count here -- on Sunday as Keelan Paul was born. That same day Kasey Kahne beat Jimmie Johnson in a triathlon in Charleston, S.C.

Friday's interviews surrounding both of these events were as entertaining as anything you'll see or hear this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I'll give you a few nuggets on each.

•  Harvick on Keelan having his own Twitter page: "Well, Keelan has his own everything because I didn't want some crazy-ass fan getting hold of his twitter name or his website."

•  Harvick on driving Delana to the hospital: "It wasn't very fast because she was obviously in a lot of pain. That was partly my fault because I made her wait too long, so we didn't make any real fast corners. I had been to the doctor's office several times so I knew where every bump was. So I didn't get yelled at, and that was my goal."

•  Harvick on whether Keelan has his own go-kart yet: "We're hoping for no go-karts. We're hoping for golf clubs. We're hoping that we go in a different direction there."

•  Johnson on having cramps in the triathlon the day after a hard crash at Daytona: "I went to the curb and was stretching my calves real quick, and a guy in a No. 24 hat came running up with a Bud Light and said, 'Hey, this will help, this will help.'"

•  Johnson on seeing a woman riding a beach cruiser during the bike portion of the race: "The only thing she was missing was a basket on the front."

•  Johnson on Kahne saying he beat his Hendrick Motorsports teammate by 27 seconds: "Oh, twenty-something."

•  Dale Earnhardt Jr. on whether Johnson has asked him to compete in a future triathlon: "Jimmie knows better than to waste too much time on that."

Hey, it can't be Allmendinger 24-7.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The biggest news of the 2012 Sprint Media Tour wasn't that Danica Patrick will run the Coca-Cola 600 or the unveiling of the 2013 Ford Fusion. It wasn't that NASCAR has eliminated secret fines -- as far as we know -- or that Wal-Mart will sponsor Bill Elliott for the July Daytona race.

It wasn't that Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team are "pissed off" over not winning a sixth straight Sprint Cup championship or that team owner Rick Hendrick will be disappointed if he doesn't get all four cars into the Chase.

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Harold Hinson PhotographyKevin Harvick announced Wednesday night that his wife, DeLana, is 14 weeks pregnant.

The biggest news was DeLana Harvick is pregnant.

Fourteen weeks.

Yes, sometime in July, a little "Happy" will join the NASCAR family.

You scoff, but look at all the things the decision to start a family triggered. As Kevin Harvick revealed during Richard Childress Racing's tour stop in Welcome, N.C., on Wednesday, this is the main reason he and DeLana shut down their Truck and Nationwide Series race shop in Kernersville, N.C.

That led to a consolidation of much of the Nationwide program with RCR, which worked out perfectly with Richard Childress' grandson Austin Dillon, ready to run full-time in the series. It led to Eddie Sharp forming his own Truck team with KHI equipment.

This also ended the speculation that Kevin Harvick Inc. was shut down because the couple's marriage was in trouble.

And it cemented what we've all known for years, that DeLana really does wear the fire suit in the Harvick household.

"There were a lot of factors that went into the KHI decision, but when your wife tells you she's not starting a family unless you get out of the race team business, that's a pretty big factor in things that are going on," Harvick told reporters on Wednesday night.

"It was kind of like it was all meant to be, Austin coming up in the Nationwide car, us wanting to do the family aspect of life and Eddie Sharp starting his team. It all lined up perfectly."

And get this for planning: The due date is during a rare off week in the Cup schedule.

Maybe that golden horseshoe Harvick once claimed Johnson owned really has changed hands.

We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but we are confident either way the baby won't be named Kyle. Harvick made it clear his feud with Kyle Busch isn't over.

The sad news is we likely won't see DeLana in her familiar fire suit on pit road for long. Kevin doesn't really want his wife climbing those steep steps to the pit box.

The good news is the Harvicks really are Happy.

Congratulations.

Big news.