Texas finish may derail Jimmie Johnson’s quest for 8 Cup titles, writes George Díaz.
FORT WORTH, Texas – The picture frame for the 2017 NASCAR Cup title finalists looks very familiar.
It includes Martin Truex Jr., who has won a season-high seven races and has an average finish of 2.28 in the playoff races excluding Talladega.
There is Kyle Busch, ever contentious and scrappy, who won last week in Martinsville.
You can now add Kevin Harvick to the mix. His victory in the AAA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday was vintage Harvick, a grind-it-out make-a-move-onthe-leader pass that puts him in the championship chase again.
“If we race like we did today, we’ll have a chance,” Harvick said. “That’s all you can ask for, right?”
A fourth driver will join the group this coming weekend at Phoenix. Although Truex Jr. does not have a victory in this round, he has secured a spot because he is 57 points ahead of winless playoff driver Brad Keselowski.
Harvick, the 2014 Cup champion, had been a bit of an afterthought during the playoffs. The storylines included Truex Jr.’s dominance, the feud between Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott, and the uncharacteristic struggles of defending champion Jimmie Johnson.
Pop. Here’s come Harvick into the picture.
He passed Truex Jr. with 10 laps to go, overtaking a dominant car that had led 107 laps. That move came after he passed another playoff rival, Hamlin, on Lap 307.
“The last 50 laps were definitely entertaining from the inside of the car,” Harvick said.
Finally, his first career victory in Texas offers a bit of payback that comes with a smile from all the grief Harvick has taken from track president Eddie Gossage.
“You go into the motorhome lot and you see a bag outside the door, with a hand-written note, and surely there’s some wisecrack in there that refers to not being in Victory Lane,” Harvick said. “But he’s always been very supportive. He definitely has held that over my head for the last 17 years.”
There’s been a bit of a struggle with Harvick’s overall picture as well in 2017, some of which involves a change in manufacturer from Chevy to Ford. Setups are never apples to apples when it comes to manufacturers. So an adjustment period ensued on the fly.
Harvick’s fifth-place finish in Martinsville put him in the precarious position of needing to qualify in Phoenix if he didn’t win in Texas.
“I don’t know if we didn’t have a manufacturer change that we still wouldn’t have struggles a little bit to find the equation,” team owner Tony Stewart said. “Most of all what’s encouraging is that the guys never give in. If they have a bad week they just dig in deeper.”
Harvick’s mood definitely differs from Johnson, who started ninth. Things went wrong from the get-go when he pitted off-cycle in Stage 1 because of a vibration. That put him two laps down. Johnson finished 27th, making Phoenix more of a Hail Mary desperation play, as he strives win a record eighth Cup championship.
“We started off in a hole and just kept digging a deeper one as we went,” Johnson said. “I’m definitely disappointed. And I honestly just feel bad for my team. These guys are working so hard. And to work this hard and not see any speed go back in the car and have bad results as the last three weeks have been is pretty disappointing.”
Johnson always has a puncher’s chance as a 7-time champion. But should he pull off a miracle run next weekend, formidable competition stands in his way.
He may want to start by taking a peek at Harvick’s garage.
“Those other three guys have something to worry about because I’ve seen this man when he gets locked in like this,” Stewart said. “He’s strong right now.”