NASCAR playoff curveball
3 title-race slots available after Harvick penalty
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs received a huge jolt when officials announced massive penalties to driver Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team.
Harvick had dominated the playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, and his victory served as guaranteed admission to be among the final four drivers who will contest the championship Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
And then it didn’t.
NASCAR swept that guarantee away after a thorough inspection of Harvick’s Ford at its Research and Development Center, standard for the winning car after every race, revealed that a part of his car was reconfigured to give him an advantage at Texas. Inspectors at the R&D Center found an illegal spoiler that they believe produced an aerodynamic advantage for Harvick when he drove through the turns at Texas.
The penalties issued Wednesday were costly and drastically altered the state of play in the Round of 8, not just for Harvick but the six other drivers who are hoping to land a berth in the championship round. Joey Logano clinched his spot with a victory at Martinsville Speedway in the first race of the third round two weeks ago.
Although Harvick technically gets to keep his win at Texas, he was stripped of the ability to use it to lock himself into the championship race. And while that was the biggest and most obvious setback, NASCAR tacked on additional penalties to the No. 4 team. Harvick was docked 40 points, which dropped him from the top of the playoff standings to fourth, just three points above the cutline.
He will also lose the expertise of the two most important members of his No. 4. team as NASCAR suspended crew chief Rodney Childers and car chief Robert Smith for two races — Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC) and the championship race at Homestead. Childers was also fined $75,000.
All of that could spell disaster for Harvick’s bid to add a second championship to the one he claimed in 2014. Yet for fans of the No. 4 team, there is a small silver lining: the location of Sunday’s race.
If there is one track on the Cup schedule where Harvick should feel confident about overcoming adversity, it’s ISM Raceway. No driver, active or retired, has had more success in Phoenix than Harvick.
The Bakersfield, California, native has nine Cup wins at the 1-mile track, in- cluding seven in his last 12 races. He has produced top-five finishes in 15 of 31 Cup races in Phoenix, and his average finish is 9.5, tied with Dale Earnhardt Sr. for best among all drivers with at least six starts. And no one has led more laps in the desert. Harvick’s 1,522 laps led dwarfs his next closest competitor, Jimmie Johnson with 990.
So Harvick knows how to win in Phoenix. He celebrated in victory lane this spring, but more important, he took the checkered flag in the 2014 playoff race.
Heading into that contest, Harvick was last among the eight remaining playoff drivers in the standings after a disastrous third-round opener at Martinsville, and while he salvaged quite a few points with a runner-up finish in Texas, he came to Phoenix in a mustwin situation. Harvick not only won that race, he dominated, leading 264 of 312 laps. That victory propelled him to Homestead, where he won again to clinch his first championship.
The six other playoff drivers battling for a spot in the final four know Harvick will be a factor on Sunday with or without his crew chief and car chief. They might even be more worried, knowing that Harvick will be more laser focused on winning now that he no longer has a guaranteed spot in the championship race.
For Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch, Ar- ic Almirola and Clint Bowyer, an extra path has opened to Homestead. Three Championship 4 berths will be on the line at Phoenix instead of two. But they will still have to catch Harvick on the track.
Playoff standings
Through Race No. 8 at Texas x-clinched berth in Championship 4
1. Kyle Busch ....................................... 4,128
2. Martin Truex Jr. ............................. 4,125
x- 3. Joey Logano ............................... 4,119
4. Kevin Harvick ................................. 4,103
5. Kurt Busch ...................................... 4,100
6. Chase Elliott ................................... 4,086
7. Aric Almirola .................................. 4,068
8. Clint Bowyer .................................. 4,052