Author: Jerry Bonkowski
Date: Sept. 21, 2014
Prior to last week’s opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Kevin Harvick said it would take wins and uncanny consistency to advance to the final four, winner-take-all battle in the season-ending race at Homestead.
While he is now 0-for-2 in the wins category in the 10-race Chase, Harvick definitely has the consistency part down.
After finishing fifth in the Chase opener at Chicagoland last week, Harvick finished third in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
As a result, Harvick is now third in the standings, just seven points behind Chase series leader Brad Keselowski and six points behind Loudon winner and No. 2-ranked Joey Logano.
“The first two weeks have gone really well,” Harvick said after the race. “It was important for us to get off to a good start to make sure we weren’t scrambling after week one. That stuff seems to pile on. I think that a lot of that’s what happens.
“Towards the end of the race today, that’s what happened. You have to be aggressive. This place is tough to be aggressive on. We wound up with a ton of restarts, different strategies. I thought at one point we were going to win the race, then the next thing I know the 2 is in the left rear quarter panel, I’m out of the groove.”
Harvick dominated a significant part of the event, leading a race-high 104 laps of the 300-lap sprint around the one-mile flat track.
“We had a fast car, but track position is tough and it was really hard racing there,” Harvick said. “All in all, we did what we had to do.”
If he can keep doing what he has to do by remaining consistent and continuing to earn top-five finishes, he may just be able to ride that consistency to the championship.
“It was hard racing and I enjoyed it,” Harvick said. “Hopefully we can keep running like we’re running.”
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