NASCAR: Kevin Harvick says he wants Chase Elliott to win a race

After Chase Elliott nearly secured his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Dover, Kevin Harvick voiced his support for him.

Chase Elliott finished in a heartbreaking 2nd place at Dover after being passed by Kyle Busch with just over one lap and one mile to go in the third and final race of the first round of the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Busch closed a gap of over 4 seconds that Elliott had on him before pulling up behind him, beside him and then getting past him on lap 399 of 400, causing yet another heartbreaking ending to a race for the 21-year-old, who is still without a career victory in 70 career Cup Series races.

2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick has recently been in the news for making controversial comments about NASCAR’s popularity as a whole with Dale Earnhardt Jr. struggling as the sport’s most popular driver.

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He also made headlines for his comments about Danica Patrick leaving Stewart-Haas Racing since they could not have been more different than his comments about Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring despite the fact that Patrick has not performed nearly as well as Earnhardt Jr. has even as one of the sport’s most popular drivers.

But this time, he made less controversial comments about Chase Elliott in regard to how this heartbreak at Dover will affect him, especially since he is still winless through 70 career Cup Series starts, and he also made comments about the future of NASCAR and how he feels it will have a direct correlation with Elliott’s success or lack thereof.

Here is how Harvick responded when asked about how the effect that not winning a single race in 70 attempts has on the psyche of a driver, in this case Chase Elliott.

"“Well, it’s not good just because of the fact that you haven’t won before, and I think as you look at Chase [Elliott] and you look at things that were put on him coming into the sport with all the success that his dad had and all the success that the 24 car had, going to Hendrick Motorsports, having won an Xfinity championship, it just builds that pressure more and more and more, and he’s going to win, and he’s going to win a lot of races, and he’s got the talent to do it.”“It’s just a matter of getting that first win, and sometimes it just seems like everything is just piling on you and you can’t do anything to overcome winning a race and it always winds up in 2nd or a 3rd or a 4th or a mistake or something happens and you look back at them and things just don’t go right.”"

Here is how he responded when asked how important he felt it was that Chase Elliott win his first race.

"“I think it’s very important for all of us that Chase [Elliott] wins because I believe that Chase Elliott is a very big part of our sport as we go forward. So for me as a veteran driver, I want to see Chase Elliott win because I think it’s going to take our sport to another level because of the fact that he has such deep roots in our particular sport, so it is very important that Chase Elliott get to Victory Lane because I think he has the potential to be our sport’s most popular driver as we go forward and Dale Earnhardt [Jr.] goes away and Chase Elliott moves forward, and the more he wins, the more popular our sport is going to be.”"

Next: Chase Elliott experiences 'the one that got away'...again

Next Sunday, October 8th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ET, the Round of 12 of this year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is set to begin at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That race will be broadcast live on NBC. Chase Elliott will look to bounce back from his heartbreak at Dover, while Kevin Harvick will look to focus first and foremost on winning another championship for himself even with rooting for Elliott on the side.

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