Kevin Harvick: What Dover Win Means For Chase Field

USA Today Sports

A week ago it was all but set in stone.

More from Kevin Harvick

Thanks to a crash at Chicagoland and fuel gamble gone wrong at Loudon, there was no way – no way – that Kevin Harvick would make it out of the hole he was in and ultimately past the first round of the Chase for the Cup. He had never won at Dover and his statistics there didn’t exactly impress. He didn’t stand a chance of repeating as Sprint Cup champion in 2015.

Is it safe to say that the overwhelming majority spoke to soon?

One thing’s for sure, and that’s to never, ever, underestimate Harvick and his Stewart-Haas Racing team. His win at Dover only serves to show just how dominant he has been this season and how determined that No. 4 team is in regards to winning their second-consecutive Sprint Cup championship. He’s rarely slipped up this season, and considering he’s ran extremely well at every track in the next round, there’s no question of whether he’ll advance (as long as he makes it past Talladega).

One lesson that everyone should have remembered occurred a year ago in last year’s Chase. Remember, it was the third round of the Chase, Martinsville to be more specific, and Harvick was firmly nestled in the top-10. However, due to contact from Matt Kenseth, both Harvick and Kenseth spun, but it was Harvick who ultimately ended up in the wall with a torn-up race car.

The crash at Martinsville put Harvick into a hole, and he wasn’t able to climb out of it the next week at Texas despite a top-five finish. However, in the last race of the third round of the Chase, Harvick came back to win at Phoenix, punching his ticket to Homestead. Harvick ended up with the win at Homestead, and with that he became the 2014 Sprint Cup champion.

Point being, when it comes to something big on the line Harvick has shown us that he has what it takes to pull through. He isn’t called “The Closer” for nothing. He’s one of the best in NASCAR, and he’s proved it on a weekly basis in 2015. Now that he’s out of his rut, he may very well return to form in the next month. If that’s the case, then there is little the competition can do.

He needs to not have the slip-ups he had in the first two races of the Chase. Instead, prudence may be key for the next few races, at least until the season hits three races to go. He needs to keep the same position he had for the majority of the season as front-runner and points leader. That will get him far in this Chase, and he knows this. On that note, the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s may not be the only teams in the Sprint Cup Series who have an edge on the competition.

Weigh in below on your thoughts of Harvick’s rebound in the Chase and what it could mean for the rest of the Chase grid.

Home/Kevin Harvick