Ultimate knockout punch for Harvick
Martinsville Speedway served up a huge surprise when regular-season champion Kevin Harvick failed to make the Championship Round this Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.
Harvick, who has a series-leading nine wins this season, finished 17th at Martinsville, which allowed Brad Keselowski (fourth) to jump him in points.
It was the most surprising knockout punch since a young Mike Tyson floored heavyweight champion Michael Spinks for the crown in 1988, which was the same year Phoenix joined the Cup Series schedule.
“I’ve been punched in the gut a lot harder,” Harvick said. “We won nine races, had a great year, and, like I said, the championship is kind of a bonus. It would be great to win it, obviously, but I’d rather go through the year and win races and do the things that we did and just came up short.”
The Fab Four vying for the Cup championship this year will be Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott, who had a walkoff win at Martinsville.
Since this knockout playoff format was introduced in 2014, HomesteadMiami Speedway has hosted the series final. That honor falls to Phoenix this year.
Phoenix had NASCAR’s last “regular” race on March 8 before the COVIDpandemic shut everything down the following week. NASCAR racing resumed on May 17 after the sanctioning body started cobbling races together in order to sync up for its 10-race playoff schedule.
Time to kick the tires and light the fires one more time …
First gear
Harvick made a good point about the current playoff format, which went from a season-long points count in 2003 to a playoff formula in 2004.
“They aren’t won the same way that Earnhardt and Petty did,” he said. “That’s the system that we work in and it’s obviously skewed more towards entertainment.”
Second gear
Every champion since 2014 has won the last race of the season, but that is not required. The highest finishing driver of the four eligible for the title wins the crown. Phoenix, a flat 1-mile oval, races more like a short track than a speedway, which could make for a race of survival. The champion maywell be the last car on the lead lap or a lap down.
Third gear
If Denny Hamlin wins the championship, he will join an elite group of drivers who won the Daytona 500 and title in the same year.
Lee Petty did it in 1959 (the year Daytona opened), then his son Richard did it four times. CaleYarborough got a double in 1977, followed by Jeff Gordon (1997) and Jimmie Johnson (2006, ’13).
Fourth gear
Hamlinseemsdestined towinthe title. He probably should have won in 2019, but during a late pit stop at Homestead, his pit crew put a ridiculously huge piece of tape on his grille, which overheated his engine. Hamlin won the fall Phoenix race last season.
“I thinkwe can win any givenweek for sure,” he said. “One race, winner take all, you never know.”