NASCAR: Are we witnessing the best season of the 21st century?
Kevin Harvick has been the best driver in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, but where does his season rank among the best of the 21st century?
Since moving to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, Kevin Harvick has been one of the best drivers, if not the best driver, in NASCAR. His 35 wins and 126 top five finishes rank highest among all drivers since the start of that season.
His 2020 season has been among the best of his career. He leads the series with nine wins, 20 top five finishes, 26 top 10 finishes and 67 playoff points. He has comfortably led the regular point standings since the fourth race of the season at Phoenix Raceway and even clinched the unofficial points title with two races to go.
So how does this season stack up against some of the best of the 21st century? Let’s take a look at the key statistics.
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Wins
Harvick’s nine wins tie him with Carl Edwards in 2008 for the second most of the 21st century. It should be noted that Edwards didn’t win the championship that season. Jimmie Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 hold the top spot for most wins in the 21st century.
In that season, Johnson started out strong with four wins in his first 10 races but then didn’t win until the 25th race of that season at Auto Club Speedway. He finished that season by winning six of the last 12 races, including four in a row en route to his second consecutive championship.
Johnson finished outside the top 10 seven times during that 14-race win drought in 2007. Harvick’s longest winless streak so far this season is just five. He has also not gone more than two consecutive races without a top 10 finish.
Top five and top 10 finishes
Harvick’s 20 top five finishes and 26 top 10 finishes are actually not career-highs — and with two races to go, they can’t be, either. He recorded 23 top five finishes in both 2015 and 2018. He fell short of the championship in both seasons, but he did lead the non-playoff standings in 2015.
Before 2015, just two drivers achieved the feat of recording more than 20 top five finishes in a season throughout the 21st century. Johnson and Jeff Gordon recorded 20 and 21, respectively, in 2007. Joey Logano nearly reached Harvick’s mark with 22 in 2015.
Harvick’s mark of 26 top 10 finishes matches his 2010 and 2019 totals, but this mark trails his career-high of 29 from 2018. In the 21st century, his 2018 total has only been topped by Gordon’s 30 in 2007.
Average finish and laps led
Harvick’s average finish so far this season is a series-best 7.1 While that could change with two races remaining, it would be the best average finish of any driver in the 21st century. Gordon is the only other driver to record an average finish better than eighth place with a mark of 7.3. in 2007.
Harvick has led 1,531 laps this season. With 812 laps left this, there’s a good chance that this number will go up. Six drivers have led more than 2,000 laps in a season since 2000. Gordon has the top mark of 2,320 in 2001, when he won his fourth and final championship. He led 21.4% of the laps that season.
Harvick has the second-best mark of the 21st century with 2,294 laps led in 2015. His percentage of laps led was actually higher than Gordon’s, however, at 22.0% percent.
Best season of the 21st century?
Kevin Harvick’s 2020 season has been a model of consistency, and his nine wins show he’s not just riding around with a third or fourth place car, either. In an era where winning means more than ever, Harvick has been the best in class.
His consistency puts him on par with his 2015 and 2018 performances, but his wins in 2020 give him the slight edge in terms of his personal best season.
In addition to his 2015 and 2018 seasons, I think the only seasons that rival Harvick’s 2020 season are Johnson’s 2007 season, Gordon’s 2007 season and Martin Truex Jr.’s 2017 season.
With all of the statistics at my disposal, I have to give the edge to Johnson’s 2007 season. The most impressive part about this season is that when it mattered the most, he rattled off four straight wins to steal the championship from Gordon.
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He wasn’t as consistent in that season as the others were during their top years, but his championship gives him the edge over Gordon and his 10 wins give him the advantage over Truex. But if Harvick can win his second championship in 2020, you could certainly make a case for him to have had the best Cup Series in the 21st century.