NASCAR: Kevin Harvick sees 11-year streak snapped
By Asher Fair
A streak that could have ranked among the all-time greats came to an end for Kevin Harvick as the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season concluded.
One year after winning nine races, the most for a driver in a single NASCAR Cup Series season since Carl Edwards won the same amount in 2008, Kevin Harvick failed to reach victory lane.
While he somehow managed to finish in fifth place in the championship standings, which is exactly where he finished in 2020, the 2021 season was a far cry from what we are used to from Harvick, even in a down year.
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In addition to not winning a single race, he did not win a single stage, and his only two playoff points came because of the fact that he finished the regular season in the top 10 in the standings (ninth place). To put that in perspective, he racked up 67 playoff points last year.
Stewart-Haas Racing struggled as a whole in 2021, with their only win coming from Aric Almirola at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Even that win was quite a surprise, given the fact that, on points alone, Almirola would have failed to qualify for the playoffs and finished in 20th place in the point standings.
And because the team’s lone 2021 win did not belong to Harvick, his winning streak was ended at 11 consecutive seasons.
From 2010 to 2020, Harvick won at least one race per season, racking up a total of 47 victories during that 11-year span after entering the 2010 season with 11 career victories to his name.
This 11-year streak ends in a tie for 14th place on the all-time list with the streaks of Dale Jarrett (1993 to 2003) and Brad Keselowski (2011 to 2021), though the latter streak is active after Keselowski’s win at Talladega Superspeedway in late April.
A win in 2021 would have tied Harvick’s streak for 13th place on the all-time list with the 12-year streak of Denny Hamlin (2006 to 2017).
The all-time record is held by Richard Petty (1960 to 1977), though that record could very well be tied by Kyle Busch (2005 to 2021) next year and potentially broken in 2023.
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Busch’s two wins in 2021 propelled him from a four-way for third place at 16 with Ricky Rudd (1983 to 1998), Rusty Wallace (1986 to 2001) and Jimmie Johnson (2002 to 2017) to a tie for second at 17 with David Pearson (1964 to 1980).