DeLana Harvick doesn't follow paths... she creates them.

The daughter of NASCAR Busch Series driver John Paul Linville, the Kernersville, N.C., native has never really spent much of her life away from the race track. She knows the ins and outs of the business. She knows the paths around many of the sport's pitfalls. And she wants to do it better than anyone has done it before.

This year, that confidence and determination is beginning to pay off, as husband Kevin is in the Chase for the Nextel Cup Series championship and the Harvick-owned NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry of Ron Hornaday Jr. is sitting atop the point standings heading into this weekend's race at Las Vegas (Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on SPEED).

"They create two totally different kinds of pressure," said Harvick of the two championship battles. "Most of the pressure on the Cup side came with just making the Chase... I was a wreck until Kevin got in. But now that he is in, I have calmed down a little bit and my role is simply to support Kevin and be there for him.

"With the Truck team, I have more to do with what's going on day-to-day," Harvick added. "I am much more hands on... I can ask about the set-ups or look at what's going on in the wind tunnel. I am much more involved as an owner."

Kevin and DeLana started Kevin Harvick Incorporated (KHI) in 2001 shortly after they were married as an after-hours project to build a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry for Kevin.

"Kevin had never won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event, so he wanted to build a truck he knew would be competitive," Harvick said.

That "after-hours" operation has developed into a 70,000-square foot facility in DeLana's hometown of Kernersville, housing some of the most competitive cars and trucks on the NASCAR tracks.

"Kevin is such an intense competitor," Harvick said. "He started his racing career having very little money... taking one week's winnings to pay for the next week's racing. I share that same drive and competitiveness, so we are determined to have cars and trucks that are consistently strong every week."

The effort hasn't gone unnoticed in the garage area, as two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart asked the Harvicks if they would field a Busch entry for him.

"To have guys like Tony and Bobby Labonte agree to drive our equipment is humbling," Harvick said. "They know when they are in one of our cars that they will have a chance to win and that means a lot to us."

But as KHI continues to grow, don't expect DeLana to share her business plan. She and Kevin don't really have one.

"We never really had a five or 10-year plan," Harvick said. "We've been good on the fly, because the sport moves and changes so fast. People ask us all the time if we are going to go Cup racing with KHI, but I'm not sure that is something we would even consider."

And despite the likes of Hornaday, Stewart and Labonte behind the wheel of KHI vehicles, Harvick knows the importance of balancing the organization with young talent to take the organization forward.

"Obviously, you have to find sponsors willing to take risks on young drivers," Harvick said. "The timing has to be right for everyone involved. But we think we've found one in Cale Gale."

Gale is sharing driving duties for the No. 2 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry with Kevin and Clint Bowyer, and the No. 33 Busch entry with Kevin, Stewart, Ron Fellows, Tony Raines and Hornaday, and Harvick thinks the young driver has a real shot to be something special.

"We are going to bring him along slowly," Harvick said. "We will try to run him in the ARCA, Busch, Truck model as he progresses. We don't want to throw him right into the fire, but I really think he has what it takes to win out here."

With her husband solidly in The Chase, her Truck team atop the standings and her business drawing attention from some of the sport's biggest names, DeLana Harvick is rapidly becoming a player in the world of NASCAR, but is quick to point out that life in the limelight has its challenges.

"I'm still somewhat uncomfortable in front of crowds or doing media interviews," said Harvick, who once served as public relations manager for Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie. "Sometimes when a race doesn't go the way you want it to, you're just running on raw emotion and you can say things you might regret later. You don't always make the right decision in the heat of competition, but I'm working on it."

SPEED is the nation's first and foremost cable television network dedicated to motor sports and the passion for everything automotive. From racing to restoration, motorcycles to movies, SPEED delivers quality programming from the track to the garage. Now available in more than 77 million homes in North America, SPEED is among the fastest-growing sports cable networks in the country, the home to NASCAR on SPEED and an industry leader in interactive TV, video on demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services.