Childress: Kevin Harvick at RCR in 2010

The story that will keep us talking until next weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- well, at least not the Jeremy Mayfield one -- took a new turn Wednesday.

Richard Childress Racing denied a report from Sports Illustrated and said that both Kevin Harvick and the sponsor of his No. 29 Chevrolet will return in 2010 per their contracts, rather than head to Tony Stewart's Stewart-Haas Racing as was originally reported.

Still muddy though was the report that Kevin Harvick had asked for his release from RCR thanks to the driver foregoing comment so far and his spokesman issuing a "no comment" about the situation.


His team owner Richard Childress, however, wasn't so tight-lipped when the organization released its statement on Wednesday:

"Richard Childress Racing has a multi-year contract with Shell-Pennzoil that includes the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Shell-Pennzoil remains a great partner for RCR and Kevin Harvick as well as our sport overall. RCR also has a multi-year contract with Kevin Harvick that includes the 2010 season. That said, Shell will be the sponsor and Kevin will be the driver of RCR's No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS in 2010."

Shell Oil Company serves as the primary sponsor on Harvick's ride -- as it has since the 2007 season when the Bakersfield, Calif.-driver scored a win in the Daytona 500 -- and issued a statement saying that it was "pleased to be sponsoring the No. 29 in 2010" and it had no "further news or information regarding the rumors."

The original report from SI said that Shell-Pennzoil would be leaving at the end of the 2009 season from Kevin Harvick's ride, and that he was looking to switch Chevrolet teams by moving to the Tony Stewart-run operation.

Harvick has struggled mightily in 2009 with just 2 Top-5 finishes to show and a 25th-place postion in the Sprint Cup point standings.

Those struggles are likely a huge part of why Harvick's name has started to get tossed around in NASCAR's silly season, as the low finishes are highly out of character. The next stop for Harvick and the Sprint Cup Series in Indianapolis is a spot of good memories, though, as Harvick won the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in 2003.