Kevin Harvick may be 14 points below the current cut line for the Championship 4 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but if it weren’t for near-flawless execution by Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team, the deficit might be much larger.
Harvick hasn’t drawn a pit road speeding penalty for more than a year, and it’s not because he and his team aren’t pushing the limits. They’re simply that precise.
“We’ve been as aggressive on pit road as we’ve always been,” Harvick said. “I tell our young guys this, whether I have something to do with them or not. We still practice every week. Every week we go up and down pit road, in and out of the pit box. Hard onto pit road, hard off of pit road. It isn’t something you can let your guard down with.
“As you look at it, I feel like it is one of the reasons our team is still in it. I don’t feel like we’ve had that knockout speed that the Gibbs cars have had on a week-to-week basis. We have had it a few times and been able to capitalize on that, but I feel like we’ve done a good job minimizing the mistakes, and we have three more weeks to do that.
“It has been those types of scenarios. Solid execution of things, except for a few weeks that we have had here lately for the most part that have kept us in the mix all year.”
The winner of the last two Playoff races at Texas, Harvick had good speed in opening practice on Friday. He posted the 10th fastest single lap and was second quickest in best consecutive 10-lap average.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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