Author: Bob Pockrass
Date: Oct. 17, 2014
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano will qualify for the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup once they take a qualifying lap Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway.
So what is there to race for when they take the green flag for the Geico 500 Sunday? Harvick joked Saturday night after winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway that he would start the race and then park it in the opening laps.
Harvick said Friday that won’t happen. His Stewart-Haas Racing crew has worked too hard.
“(My) guys have worked hard on the cars to make them as good as they can no matter the scenario,” Harvick said.
“At the bare minimum, we owe it to them and the fans to race as hard as we can and take the same approach as we have all year (to) try to run well in practice, qualify well, lead laps and try to win a race.”
In the new Chase for the Sprint Cup format, Chase drivers advance to the next round automatically with a win in the current three-race round. The only other requirement is to attempt to qualify for the other two races.
There are two practical reasons why Harvick and Logano will want to finish as high as possible. Strong performances, and especially wins, could keep some of their biggest challengers for the title — Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson are all currently on the outside looking in — from advancing to the next round.
“There are some people who are in a pretty vulnerable spot unless they win,” Harvick said. “Being aggressive, trying to lead laps, taking those points away, winning the race and not allow that automatic bid going forward is really the main goal. … From a competitor’s standpoint you want to do everything you can do to try and keep an upper hand.”
Logano said it’s about keeping momentum for his Team Penske organization going into the next round.
“We don’t have to worry about riding around and staying out of the wreck,” Logano said. “We can get up there and go for the win. But we also want to get a good finish out of it. We have five straight top five finishes to start the Chase, and we’d love to keep that streak going.”
With all that being said, don’t expect Harvick or Logano to do anything too crazy.
“If it works out, it works out,” Harvick said. “That’s the thing that comes out of last week. If it works out, fine. And if doesn’t, fine. Just race hard.”
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