Harvick Chasing Familiar Territory

When Kevin Harvick fans took a look at the current NASCAR Nextel Cup Series points standings following the Lifelock 400 race held on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.  Richard Childress’ no. 29 Shell Penzoil Team currently sits in fifth place – 126 points back of Chase leader Jimmie Johnson.  So, why are Harvick fans not worried?

Since NASCAR moved to their “Chase” format at the beginning of the 2004 racing season, Harvick has made the Chase just one other time, and that was last year and he finished fourth in points, just 78 points behind current defending Champion Jimmie Johnson.  Coming into this race last year, Harvick sat in fifth and was 96 points behind the leader, but a sixth place finish at Talladega allowed him to make up substantial ground and he came out of that race fourth in the standings and was then only 33 points behind Jeff Burton for first place.  The final six races would have provided for a crazy-close three-way battle for the crown between Harvick, Matt Kenseth, and Denny Hamlin who all finished within 22 points of each other for 2nd through 4th, but a late surge by Johnson and his crew ultimately catapulted him to the front and out of reach of the other Chasers.

Taking that into consideration, it’s very feasible to imagine that Harvick could leave Talladega with a good finish and gain a ton of points on the guys in front of him.  Not only has ‘Dega been good to Harvick in the past (six top 10’s in his last nine races there), but restrictor plate racing always seems to trigger a huge multi-car pileup, or “the Big One” as we’ve come to know it.  I’m sure Kevin’s not going to wish any ill-will toward the other drivers in the garage (wink), BUT if some of these other guys in the Top 5 happen to get caught up in a wreck somewhere between the green and checkered flags, it could be a huge points day for the 29 team.

Talladega’s probably not much of a concern to most Kevin Harvick fans, but two of the three following races should be.  Lowe’s is a track that Harvick has never faired well at and Atlanta is a place that has become a real thorn in his side in the past couple of seasons, despite running well there earlier in his career.  The next bright spot on the schedule after this weekend will actually be at Martinsville on October 21st – right between Charlotte and Atlanta.  Harvick has two top 10 finishes there in his past three tries and he’s always been fond of short-track racing.  It’s going to be a long bumpy road for the Childress protégé’, but if he can reverse his misfortunes at a couple of these tracks, he could find himself well in contention for #1 in 2007.