Here comes Harvick again
2014 champion secures spot in next round of Chase
LOUDON, N. H. — Kevin Harvick has thrived when forced to steel his nerves, flourishing in those win-or-else races that keep a championship push alive.
Off to a rocky start in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship this year, Harvick injected NASCAR’s postseason with a rousing finish that eliminated a must-win race for him and parked him in the next playoff round.
Harvick won Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to earn a spot in the second round of the Chase, pulling away on a restart a year after a late loss at the track.
“It’s kind of like an addiction,” said Harvick, who won for the third time this season. “You just love the rush of being able to be behind and be able to perform and make that happen.”
Harvick finished 20th in the Chase opener, which made him 15th in the 16-driver standings. With a weak finish at New Hampshire, Harvick would have faced yet another race at Dover he may have had to win to advance.
His lap times in the No. 4 Chevrolet only got faster deeper into Sunday’s race, and he was soon nipping at Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth at the front of the field. Kenseth dominated the second half of the race and seemed poised to win this race for the third straight time.
Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup champion, had enough juice in the Chevy to zip past Kenseth with five laps left and join Truex as the drivers locked in the next round. Truex won the Chase opener at Chicagoland, and he led a race-high 141 laps at New Hampshire.
Harvick ran out of fuel late last year at New Hampshire to lose and faced a win-or-elimination race the next week at Dover, where he rallied for one of the biggest victories of his career. He won in a similar situation in 2014 at Phoenix when he needed a victory to advance to the championship race.
Harvick then won the finale at Homestead.
“The last two years we’ve kind of just worn ourselves out and really stressed out over trying to perform at this level,” he said.
At Dover, it’s up to 14 other drivers to worry about a win with the championship field cut to 12 after that race.
Chase drivers took the top eight spots Sunday, when Kenseth led 105 of 300 laps. He appeared to slow down just a bit off the last restart with five laps left, allowing Harvick to race side-by-side before he took off.
“It was just a smooth restart. I just didn’t want to spin the tires,” Harvick said. “I don’t know what happened to him, or if I just timed it right.”
Kenseth, who wound up second Sunday, won the May race at Dover and appears in solid shape to reach the second round.
“I let Kevin lay back on me, which we’re supposed to be side- by- side. I should have known better,” Kenseth said. “I should have just went really late in the zone and wait until he had to get up to my nose, because he anticipated it just right and laid back. Plus, I spun the tires and I got beat through one and two, and then it was over.”
Kyle Busch was third, followed by Chase drivers Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Truex and Jimmie Johnson. Among other Chase drivers, Kyle Larson was 10th, Joey Logano 11th, Chase Elliott 13th, Denny Hamlin 15th, Austin Dillon 16th, Jamie McMurray 19th, Tony Stewart 23rd and Chris Buescher 30th.
McMurray, Dillon, Stewart and Buescher are the bottom four drivers in the standings.