Kevin Harvick came up short of his bid for a second series title but still turned in a stellar effort to finish third in the final point standings. The #4 Jimmy Johns driver made it to the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway but didn’t have the speed to win. Overall, the season should be considered a success. Harvick ended the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season with two wins, 14 top-fives, and 23 top-10 finishes.
“Well, I think when you look at it from the inside out and all the work that everybody went through, the preparation that we went through to get to these playoffs was second to none,” Kevin Harvick said. “It was a championship effort. Just came up a little bit short. Congratulations to Martin (Truex Jr.). Those guys have been the dominant car all year. To go win the race and make it happen at the end, they were able to get their car better and win the championship.”
Kevin Harvick was one of two Ford drivers to advance to the Championship 4 in a year. He also did it when Stewart-Haas Racing moved from Chevrolet to Ford. Even more impressive was that Harvick’s race wins were at venues he’d never won at before. In fact, the only active NASCAR Cup tracks the speedster hasn’t won at are Pocono and Kentucky. Last year, Harvick notched his first win of the season at Sonoma Raceway in June. In that race, he led about a quarter of the laps turned. He also was out in front when he took the checkered flag in the Toyota/Save Mart 250. It was a total team effort, as Harvick combined a fast car and some pit strategy to score his 36th career Cup win.
“It is a great day,” Kevin Harvick said in Victory Lane. “Finally it all came together and we were able to not have any cautions there at the end. Crew chief Rodney Childers had a great strategy. I was able to take care of the car and get out front. I felt like the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) was the car we had to race. He had problems and from there we were in control.”
Even with the high placings, Kevin Harvick’s average finish of 11.1 was his worst since it was since 2013. As a result, the veteran recorded four did not finish. More importantly, two of those were in the playoffs at New Hampshire and Talladega. Harvick did sweep stage wins at Atlanta but did not win another stage until he swept both stages in the Charlotte. The freaky fast driver’s two wins were his fewest since winning just one race in 2012. Even so, he did manage runner-ups at both races in Pocono.
Kevin Harvick advanced into the playoffs thanks to his Sonoma. Altogether, he was fast but struggled some during the end of the season. A lot of those struggles could be attributed to some shotty pit crew work. Time and time again, Harvick would find himself losing spots after cautions. It was the same in 2016 and didn’t seem to improve a whole lot last year.
He was able to get things headed in the right direction once the playoff schedule rolled around. The team found a rhythm after Kevin Harvick continually called them out for their sub-par performances. The message sent to his crew paid off. Because of that, he advanced through the first two rounds of the playoffs. It wasn’t easy but the victory on the winding roads at Sonoma proved to be huge.
In the Eliminator Round, it wasn’t until a clutch victory at Texas Motor Speedway that he secured a spot in the Championship 4. In that performance, Harvick did it in impressive style. He pushed his Ford around Martin Truex Jr. in the waning laps to take the lead. After that, he raced a solid line and took the checkered flag in the AAA Texas 500. It was obvious that the Furniture Rowe Racing team had the car to beat. Even still, Harvick capitalized on some of Truex’s misfortunes and got the job done.
“Damn, it’s good to be in Victory Lane here in Texas,” Harvick said after getting around Truex Jr. “I knew I had a really good car. We knew I had to do something different. Started driving a whole lot deeper in (Turn) 1—a whole lot deeper. I started doing that earlier in the race. I was afraid I didn’t have the brakes to continue to do that all day. So I waited until the end and was able to get on the outside of Martin. I got him loose and brushed across the back of him. That was how I was able to get by on the outside down there.”
Kevin Harvick had his opportunity to win a second title in the season finale at Homestead. Ultimately, he finished behind champion Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch. In all, the performance put him in third in the final standings. Harvick and the #4 team, will look to build on their success after moving to Ford. The elite roadster enters his 18th full-time NASCAR Cup season. It also will be his fifth-straight with Stewart/Haas Racing.
“Just really proud of everybody on my team. They did a great job getting us to this point. It was nice having a chance and gave it all we had until the end,” Kevin Harvick said. “Some points were good, some points were bad, and in the end, it just wasn’t quite good enough.”
Kevin Harvick Bio:
Kevin Harvick competes full-time in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing. He also raised the trophy as 2014 NASCAR champion. The #4 Jimmy Johns driver has 37 career wins. He also earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors back in 2001. The freaky fast competitor has also spent some time in the Xfinity Series. In that league, he has claimed two titles. That includes the 2000 Rookie of the Year honors as well. Overall, he has 46 career wins. The versatile speedster can drive just about anything. He has notched 14 career wins in the Camping World Truck Series.
Cruise on over to BetDSI Sportsbook to get the latest odds on Kevin Harvick’s chances to win it all in the upcoming Monster Energy Cup Series season.
