Kevin Harvick switched teams from a long run with Richard Childress Racing to a new seat at Stewart-Haas for 2014. He brought Budweiser with him to wrap the new #4 Chevrolet. At the season opening Daytona 500 he took the best finish of the rest of the Stewart-Haas group of drivers with 13th place, driving up from starting 38th.

The second race of the season offered the same result as Harvick again finished in front of his team mates but this time the finish was also the win. It’s race two of the season and, for points, the second race for Harvick in the #4.

…And he has already snagged a win.

Whatever time many may take to adapt to new surroundings Harvick seems to have skipped over. At Phoenix the #4 was fast enough through practice and qualifying to put it, and Harvick, on the board as the one to beat. He took it to the track and came off with the win of the Profit Of CNBC 500.

Pole starter Brad Keselowski finished 3rd. Daytona 500 winner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished 2nd.

A much as Dale Jr. is racing with early momentum and former champion Keselowski is chasing momentum Kevin Harvick came and went at Phoenix making momentum. Harvick is so hungry for a championship he is eating and breathing asphalt and racing fuel for 2014. He brought that hunger, unsatisfied from his point of view, from RCR and planted it firmly in the seat of his new Stewart-Haas #4 Chevy and has begun feeding it.

Harvick is a pleasant enough fellow. However, even pleasant fellows can get edgy and punchy when frustrated. Harvick has wins. He has tasted the offerings from the plate of success. He wants the full buffet and he seems to be wasting no time finding the plates and forks.

The others in Stewart-Haas, Tony Stewart (team owner as combined with Haas-CNC), Danica Patrick and Kurt Busch, are chasing their own charges. Stewart is back after a leg injury in 2013. At Daytona, he was chipper, jovial and from all points looked and seemed ready for the 2014 season. Kurt Busch also seemed ready to embrace the new ride. Patrick seemed ready to prove herself worthy of the ride. So far for them, even early as it is in the season, the wheels are not spinning. Time is with them to make moves forward but racing doesn’t hold back and the season can spin through the calendar quickly.

For Harvick, this win is an appetizer. For Stewart-Haas it is an example of possibilities.

For other drivers in the field it may be notice to watch the #4.