USA TODAY International Edition
HARVICK GETS VICTORY, PLAYOFF PEACE OF MIND
ond, so it’s pretty damn impressive, I think.”
Stewart was soon on to the next chat, this one with Harvick’s No. 4 Ford crew in victory lane, and the peace of mind that will come with shifting priorities for the playoffs.
“It’s nice to check it off the list, because it just takes a lot of pressure off,” Stewart said. “You can worry about getting ready for the ( playoffs). That’s a big check mark to get.
“You just get to keep going forward. You can’t sit on anything. You have to keep pressing and working hard to get everything ready for the ( playoffs), but you can shift gears from having to win a race and lock yourself in to now trying some extra things you may not have the ability to try.”
It was a productive afternoon for SHR, which has half of its lineup in the postseason — Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500 — in its first year with Ford. With his second runner- up finish of the season, Bowyer advanced a spot in points, one slippery rock from the edge of the playoff boundary. A win doesn’t seem unreason- able. Danica Patrick started sixth and raced through the field twice to finish 17th after being involved in two accidents not of her doing.
Harvick alluded to the difficulty of the season, though, particularly the task of changing engine manufacturers from Chevrolet and everything that entailed. That will eventually, he said, become a testament to the quality and resilience of the organization.
SHR also has experienced sponsor problems and industry speculation that Patrick will not return for the final year of her contract because her performance has stagnated, a growing assumption punctuated by reporting from SportsBusiness Journal and the Associated Press.
Stewart wasn’t interested in that topic. “I don’t read the Business Journal. Are you kidding me? I don’t even read the paper,” he said with a grin, still walking toward victory lane.
Surely, a co- owner would get to help decide such things, though?
“What days I want to come to the track is about all they let me decide on now,” he said.
Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers now get to decide the Cup champion again, though. Before the season, Harvick wasn’t so certain he would with so much change afoot. Although he averaged four wins in each of his three seasons with SHR — five in capturing a first Cup championship in his 2014 debut — anxiety had grown even though he had raced competitively in numerous races but had been undone by penalties or accidents. He is third in the driver standings, and his 10 top- 10 finishes are one off the series lead.
“I felt like I knew we were going to win again just for the fact that our cars were running good,” he said. “It’s been a good year, we just hadn’t been to victory lane, and today it all went our way, and hopefully we’ve gotten all that bad luck out of the way and we can enjoy days like this where it all goes our way and capitalize on the fastest car.”