NASCAR: Kevin Harvick dropped 49 points, despite finishing 5th

Despite recording a fifth place finish on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick lost 49 points relative to the NASCAR Cup Series playoff cut line.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick is still seeking his first NASCAR Cup Series win since September 2020 when he won at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Since earning that victory, which was his ninth in a 25-race span, the 2014 series champion is on a 63-race win drought, his longest win drought in more than a decade.

He managed to qualify for the playoffs last season with a ninth place finish in the regular season standings, but he was the 15th of 16 drivers to qualify and opened the playoffs as the lowest seeded driver.

Through 20 races this season, Harvick sits in ninth place in the point standings, but because there have been 14 different winners, he sits outside of the provisional 16-driver playoff picture as the third highest ranking non-winner. He is the first driver outside of the playoff picture.

In fact, he was dealt a huge blow in Sunday afternoon’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Entering this race, Harvick sat 19 points below the playoff cut line. Despite finishing that race in a solid fifth place, he fell to 68 points below the cut line.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell won this race, making him the 14th different winner of the season. Entering the race, he sat in eighth place in the point standings, but because eight drivers below him in the standings won earlier in the season, he was the 16th and final driver above the playoff cut line. He was one of just three drivers above the cut line in points.

With Bell having won and joined the previous 13 race winners in the “winners” portion of the provisional playoff picture, teammate Martin Truex Jr. is now the 16th and final driver above the playoff cut line, and he is just one of two drivers above the cut line in points.

Harvick is still the first driver outside of the playoff picture, but now his gap to the official cut line is his gap to Truex, who sits in fourth place in the point standings. It is no longer his gap to Bell in eighth, a gap which is still just 19 points.

So despite a fifth place effort on Sunday, he dropped a whopping 49 points in the playoff picture, and he is more than likely now in a must-win situation if he wants to make the 2022 season his 13th straight season with a playoff berth.