RICHMOND, Va. -- He has been first in the point standings for 20 of this Sprint Cup season's 25 weeks.

But as Kevin Harvick prepared for this Saturday's Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway, he knew his long-running reign at the top was about to come to an end. Even if he wins the race, Harvick cannot catch Jimmie Johnson or Denny Hamlin in the Chase for the Sprint Cup seeding, which is based on the number of victories registered by drivers during the first 26 races.

“

Just being able to race for wins is really what it's all about and that takes care of the rest of it.

”

-- KEVIN HARVICK

Johnson and Hamlin have five wins apiece, and Harvick has three heading into Saturday's final race before the Chase cutoff.

Harvick doesn't seem to care the least little bit. He said the three wins he does have this season -- at Talladega, at Daytona in July and at Michigan -- give him the confidence he believes he needs to make a run at his first Cup championship even if he will start a bit behind Johnson and Hamlin once the standings are re-set for the 12 drivers who qualify for the 10-race Chase.

"I think it's important to know that we can win," Harvick said. "Last week we had a really fast car [despite ultimately finishing 33rd at Atlanta] and it seemed like every time we got to the front, something goofy would happen. And then I finally made the mistake there at the end and popped a tire.

"But week in and week out, the cars have been fast no matter where they've been in practice. By the time the race rolls around, the cars are fast. Just being able to race for wins is really what it's all about and that takes care of the rest of it."

It is different from a year ago when Harvick and the rest of his Richard Childress Racing teammates struggled to run up front. He didn't win a single race in 2009 and was left on the outside looking in when it came to the Chase -- eventually finishing 19th in points. It was the first time in four seasons he had missed the Chase.

He said what he went through last year -- and really, his entire career -- has led him to approach this moment with a level of maturity that escaped him in the past. It has, he said, helped him relax to the point where he strongly believes it is going to benefit him over the final 10 races.

"It's not something that I've been able to do in the past," Harvick said. "But over the last several weeks, I think [the new mental approach] has been working fairly well. It kind of keeps my mind at ease. You don't go thinking about things that you don't need to think about.

"It's so easy to beat yourself in this sport and there are so many things you can't control. There are only a few things you can control, so there is no reason to worry about those things you can't. You just go out and go as fast as you can, try to be as thorough as you can."

Teammate Clint Bowyer said Harvick's resurgence has been an inspiration to the entire RCR stable, which includes the No. 33 Chevrolet he drives and also the No. 31 Chevy driven by Jeff Burton. Bowyer enters Saturday's race needing only to finish 28th or higher no matter what any other contender does to clinch the 12th and final Chase berth, while Burton enters the race sixth in points and with a spot in the Chase already secure.

"What we've got to do is get better at getting the [strong] finishes like my teammate Kevin Harvick has done," Bowyer said. "He's done a great job of showing the potential of RCR cars all season long. If Jeff and I can match his success from early in the season and put it together for these last 10 races, we're going to have a shot at winning the championship for RCR."

Harvick said he felt a surge of confidence when he recently visited the RCR shop in Welcome, N.C.

"I went to the shop last week and looked at our whole new fleet of cars basically that we have built," Harvick said. "We are prepared to race for this championship. Whether we win or lose, I think it's the best chance we have ever had and it's the best prepared we've ever been going into the Chase."

So even though he'll surrender the top-dog status in the standings for the first time in 17 weeks after this Saturday, Harvick is not concerned. He is calm and relaxed and said he plans to stay that way no matter what lies ahead.

"I think we need to have fun with it, to be honest with you -- just because when we started the year, everyone expected us to have a disaster again," Harvick said. "So to be in the position that we're in, we know that this is the best opportunity we've had to race for a championship. Whether we can win or lose, it's yet to be seen. But man, this is the position that everybody wants to be in and this is the position we want to be in. So we've just got to go see what happens."