Kevin Harvick isn’t eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. But he can still make history if he wins by becoming just the 11th driver to win 10 races in a season in the modern era.
Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), has won a career-high nine races in 2020, the wins coming at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, where he won twice, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a sweep of the doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
If he wins at Phoenix Sunday, he will join Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip as a member of the 10-win club.
And Harvick would not be the first driver to win 10 races and not win the championship. It’s happened several times before.
10:
Bobby Allison 1972
Richard Petty 1974 (won championship)
Cale Yarborough 1974
David Pearson 1976
Cale Yarborough 1978 (won championship)
Rusty Wallace 1993
Jeff Gordon 1996
Jeff Gordon 1997 (won championship)
Jimmie Johnson 2007 (won championship)
11:
David Pearson 1973
Bill Elliott 1985
Dale Earnhardt 1987 (won championship)
12:
Darrell Waltrip 1981 (won championship)
Darrell Waltrip 1982 (won championship)
13:
Richard Petty 1975 (won championship)
Jeff Gordon 1998 (won championship)
The points system was different in prior years, but 10 would be a nice number to achieve and hasn’t been accomplished since 2007, when Jimmie Johnson won 10 races.
It’s been a solid year for Harvick as his nine wins, 20 top-fives, 26 top-10s and 1,531 laps led are all series-bests in 2020. He can also keep climbing the record books. Harvick is 14th all-time in laps completed with 204,792 after Sunday’s race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and is the leader among active drivers. He could pass 1989 Cup Series champion Wallace, who is 13th with 204,818, at Phoenix by getting to lap 27. If he gets to lap 208, he will surpass 205,000 completed.
Phoenix has always been good to Harvick as he has a series-high nine career Cup Series wins at Phoenix, including five with SHR, topping a list that shows Johnson next-best with four, Kyle Busch with three, and Davey Allison, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano with two each.
Harvick has won seven of the last 16 Cup Series races at Phoenix. He is the only driver to win four in a row as he won the November 2013 race, swept the 2014 races and won in March 2015 before ending his streak with a runner-up finish in November 2015. Johnson is the only other driver with a three-race streak at Phoenix, when he won the November 2007 race and swept the 2008 races. Only five drivers have won consecutive Cup Series races at Phoenix and Harvick is the only driver to win consecutive races twice, having also swept both races in 2006.
He’s scored a perfect 150.0 driver rating at Phoenix on three occasions. His first was in November 2006, when he started second, led 252 of 312 laps and reached victory lane. His second was during his November 2014 win, when he started third and led 264 of 312 laps. His third came during his March 2015 win, when he started first and led 224 of 312 laps.
Harvick has finished outside the top-10 only once at Phoenix since March 2013, and has only three finishes of 11th or worse since April 2010.
While a championship is not possible, Harvick would still love to set a couple more records to close out the 2020 season.
KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Are you still OK with this system? You have nine wins and don’t make it to the Championship 4.
“We had a great year. Like I’ve said, they aren’t won the same way that Earnhardt and Petty did. You have to put together a few weeks and we didn’t put together these last few weeks like we needed to and just came up short.”
Is this up there as one of the worst gut punches you’ve had to take?
“No, I’ve been punched in the gut a lot harder. We won nine races, had a great year, and, like I said, the championship is kind of a bonus. It would be great to win it, obviously, but I’d rather go through the year and win races and do the things that we did and just came up short.”
How do you justify that you won’t be racing for the championship when you are clearly on one of the top four teams this year?
“That’s the system we work in and it’s obviously skewed more toward entertainment than the whole year, so it’s exciting to watch and has that format that goes with it and you take them as they come and we race within the system they give us and do our best. It just didn’t work out for us. The last three weeks didn’t go exactly how we needed them to and you’ve got to be right when you get to the Round of 8.”
Busch Light Racing Team Report
Rounds 36 of 36 – Season Finale 500k – Phoenix
Car No.: 4 – Busch Light Ford Mustang
Primary Team Members:
Driver: Kevin Harvick
Hometown: Bakersfield, California
Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina
Car Chief: Robert Smith
Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin
Engine Builder: Roush-Yates Engines
Headquarters: Mooresville, North Carolina
Engine Specialist: Robert Brandt
Hometown: Mobile, Alabama
Spotters: Tim Fedewa
Hometown: Holt, Michigan
Over-The-Wall Crew Members:
Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala
Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois
Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith
Hometown: Concord, North Carolina
Tire Carrier: Mike “Shrek” Morneau
Hometown: Oxford, Maine
Gas Man: Evan Marchal
Hometown: Westfield, Indiana
Jackman: Stan Dolittle
Hometown: Ninety Six, South Carolina
Windshield: Shawn Hopkins (also serves as interior mechanic)
Hometown: Chesterfield, Virginia
Phoenix Notes of Interest:
· Dynamic Duo: While this is Harvick’s 20th year in the NASCAR Cup Series, it’s his seventh with crew chief Rodney Childers, which is the longest pairing of any current driver-crew chief combination. Since joining forces at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) in 2014, Harvick and Childers have combined to produce 35 points-paying victories, a victory in the non-points 2018 NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, 25 Busch poles, 126 top-five finishes and 179 top-10s while leading 11,111 laps. They won the 2014 championship, finished runner-up in the 2015 title chase to champion Kyle Busch, finished eighth in 2016 and third in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
· Harvick has career totals of 58 wins, 31 poles, 226 top-fives, 388 top-10s and 15,565 laps led in 717 starts.
· His most recent Cup Series wins came Sept. 19 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
· His most recent Busch Pole came in November 2019 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (Pole qualifying has not taken place since May 23 at Charlotte due to the abbreviated weekend schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic.)
· Harvick is ninth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list with 58 victories and is 18 wins behind the late Dale Earnhardt, who is eighth with 76 checkered flags. Harvick is second on the active driver list behind Jimmie Johnson, who has 83 victories.
· More than 15,000 Laps Led: On Aug. 23 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Harvick led the 15,000th lap of his NASCAR career. He is 11th all-time, has led 15,565 laps, and trails 10th-place Busch, who has led 17,942, and Johnson, who is ninth with 18,937 laps led. Harvick has led 11,111 laps as an SHR driver. He led his 10,000th lap as an SHR driver when he took the lead on lap 37 on June 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and his 11,000th lap on September 20 at Bristol on lap 476.
· Harvick in the Cup Series at Phoenix: The Season Finale 500k will mark Harvick’s 36th career Cup Series start at Phoenix. He has nine wins, two Busch poles, 18 top-fives, 25 top-10s and has led a total of 1,662 laps in his 35 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix. His average start is 14.4, his average finish is 9.0 and he has a lap-completion rate of 99.8 percent (10,906 of 10,927) laps available.
· Topping the All-Time NASCAR Cup Series Win List at Phoenix: Harvick’s series-high nine career NASCAR Cup Series wins at Phoenix tops a list that shows Jimmie Johnson next-best with four career wins, followed by Busch with three and then Davey Allison, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano with two wins each.
· Winner of Seven of the Last 16 at Phoenix: Harvick has won seven of the last 15 NASCAR Cup Series races at Phoenix. He is the only driver to win four in a row. He won the November 2013 race, swept the 2014 races and won in March 2015 before ending his streak with a runner-up finish in November 2015. Johnson is the only other driver with a three-race streak at Phoenix when he won the November 2007 race and swept the 2008 races. Only five drivers have won consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races at Phoenix and Harvick is the only driver to win consecutive races twice. Harvick also swept both races in 2006.
· Perfection at Phoenix: Harvick has scored a perfect 150.0 driver rating at Phoenix on three occasions. His first was in November 2006, when he started second, led 252 of 312 laps and reached victory lane. His second was during his November 2014 win, when he started third and led 264 of 312 laps. His third came during his March 2015 win, when he started first and led 224 of 312 laps.
· Xfinity, Truck Series Wins: Harvick won the April 2006 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix, as well as pole in November 2003. He has 17 top-five finishes in 23 career Xfinity starts. And in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, Harvick has raced at Phoenix 10 times and won four races, but has not driven in a Truck Series race since his last victory in November 2009.
· Second Place: By finishing second Oct. 18 at Kansas Speedway, Harvick has 58 runner-up finishes and is tied with Darrell Waltrip for eighth place all time. Cale Yarborough is seventh with 59 second-place finishes.
· Let’s Win Two: When Harvick won the doubleheader in August at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, he became the first driver in more than 50 years to win NASCAR Cup Series races on consecutive days. Richard Petty won the Albany-Saratoga 250 on July 14, 1971 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, New York, and the next day won the Islip 250 at Islip (N.Y.) Speedway. Islip closed in 1984, but Albany-Saratoga is still in operation.
· Laps Completed: Harvick is 14th all-time in laps completed with 204,792 after Sunday’s race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. He reached 200,000 laps completed on lap 222 of the July 19 race at Texas. Harvick is the leader among active drivers and could pass 1989 Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace, who is 13th with 204,818, at Phoenix by getting to lap 27. If he gets to lap 208, he will surpass 205,000 lap completed.
· 119 and Counting – Harvick scored his 100th career win in NASCAR’s top three series with his March 2018 Las Vegas Motor Speedway win. He has 118 total victories – 58 in the Cup Series, 47 in the Xfinity Series and 14 in the Truck Series. Only three other drivers in NASCAR history have passed 100 wins in NASCAR’s top three series: Busch (213), Petty (200) and David Pearson (106).
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
