Author: Jim Utter
Date: October 4, 2014
KANSAS CITY, Kan. Here we are again.
Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas City – the eighth time this season he’s done so, best among all drivers in the Sprint Cup Series.
Only once, in April at Darlington Raceway, has he been able to turn the pole into a trip to Victory Lane.
In addition to the most poles, Harvick has led more laps this season (1,592) than any other driver.
Unfortunately for him and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team, he also leads a far more dubious category: finding unusual ways to lose a race.
Like most other teams in NASCAR’s premier series, Harvick and his team have had issues with blown tires, a blown engine and slow pit stops at untimely of moments.
But they have also endured far more challenging – and bizarre – issues: a tire hub failure, a cut oil line, a broken chain in the rear-end housing and ballast weights left in the car.
The topper? In both races at Dover, Del., this season, Harvick had inner valve stems in tires broken by errant lug nuts.
“Some of the problems were self-induced and a lot of it was growing pains,” crew chief Rodney Childers said.. “Some of it has to do with the way things are done at Stewart-Haas Racing.
“All three teams last year did everything different from each other, and then it became four teams doing stuff different from each other this year. It’s all gotten better throughout the year.”
Looking at the performance of Harvick and his team, it’s difficult to imagine them as a first-year team, but that is the case.
Childers left Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of last season to begin assembling Harvick’s team with SHR.
SHR underwent vast changes with the addition of Harvick and the creation of a fourth team for Kurt Busch. Team co-owner Tony Stewart was also sidelined late last season, missing 10 races with two broken bones in his right leg. Stewart missed three races this season after he struck and driver Kevin Ward Jr. during a sprint car race in New York Aug. 9.
Virtually all of the 11 remaining competitors in the Chase mention Harvick and his team as a favorite to win the championship this season, but always with the caveat that they avoid the problems that have plagued them to this point.
Childers is all-too-familiar with the assessment.
“You don’t want to go in every race thinking there’s a chance that something is going to go wrong,” he said. “If you go in thinking that something else is going to happen today, then it probably is.
“If you go in the race feeling like you’re going to win, then it’s less likely to happen. We’ve had the fastest car at almost every race and it really just comes down to us executing and making sure that we don’t have problems or mistakes.”
With the new Chase format that eliminates four drivers from contention after every third race, any mistake can be costly.
After the second valve-stem issue beset his team last weekend at Dover, Harvick said he believed the only thing that his team could change to win is its luck.
“We can beat every car on the race track,” he said. “We just need some good luck. If we have some good luck, we’ll win races and have a shot at the championship.
“I feel like our cars are fast, and we’ve put ourselves in position to race for the lead and win over the first three weeks of the Chase, and that’s really your goal every week – to put yourself in position to win.
“We’re leading laps, qualifying well – we’re doing all the things that we control.”
Nonetheless, the problems and “growing pains” at inopportune times this season have been frustrating for Harvick and his team.
“It definitely hurts,” Childers said. “The summer stretch is where it hurt the most. Hopefully all that stuff is behind us.”
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