LOUDON, N.H. — Kevin Harvick doesn't subscribe to the notion that the Chase for the Sprint Cup is all about winning.
Chase drivers who win races automatically advance to the next round of the four-round Chase, a plumBrad Keselowski picked by winning the playoff opener Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. But Harvick, who led the most laps at Chicagoland before finishing fifth, said his focus remains not on winning but on moving forward from segment to segment.
"I think the unique part of that (Keselowski's win) is that you're in, but it all starts over in two weeks," Harvick said. "It's a short-term relief. Obviously, the next two weeks are different from last week. I think a lot of people are putting an emphasis on winning, and, obviously in this particular case, it worked out good for them. But the reality is that you want to move on, and consistency for the majority is more important than one winner.
"In the end, the main goal is to move on. There are a lot of things to play out."
If the winners of the first three Chase races (at Chicagoland, New Hampshire and Dover) are Chase drivers, they will advance to the second round. Twelve of the 16 Chasers will qualify for the Contender Round — the next group of three races — with the balance of the championship-eligible group chosen by points. So three top-10 runs is as good as a race win.
The bottom line at this point, Harvick said, is that it would be silly to risk crashing out of Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway by making a very risky late-race move trying to win.
"Short-term risk versus reward is not there this time of year," he said. "No matter what they tell you about the new system, it's not all about winning.
"You can put yourself in a position to win and know you're going to win the race — that's one thing. But if you put yourself in a position where you might tear up your own stuff, it's really not beneficial to you at this particular point."
Harvick said his biggest fear is the second round, which will end Oct. 19 at Talladega, Ala.
"The next round is the most critical round, in my opinion," he said. "And that's just from the fact that you have Talladega in there. There's so much you don't control. You're in the hands of 42 other guys.
"There's risk at every race track, but there is a lot more you can control everywhere else that you can't at Talladega. To me, the next round is where the surprise or something crazy is likely to happen. It could happen at any point with an engine failure or parts failure or just a mistake. But the next round has Talladega looming in there."
The Chicagoland race last week — Harvick's first with a new pit crew — was a microcosm of his season. He has been out front often — he's led 1,265 laps, second only to Keselowski, but he's won only twice. He has five second-place finishes.
"I've been in this position before where you think you should have won more races, and we probably could have, for sure, but you just don't force things like that," he said. "Stuff has a funny way of coming full circle, so we just keep doing what we're doing and everything will be fine.
"In the beginning of the year, we probably lost a few, some from mistakes and bad luck, but I think as you look back, in the end we're still only nine months into this. You had to know there were going to be mistakes and things that happen. I think the unexpected part of it is probably how consistently good the performance has been on a weekly basis. You lean on my experience from being in these positions before and let the rest of it play out."
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