Kevin Harvick 2017 Season Recap

Kevin Harvick came up just short of earning his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2017. In Stewart-Haas Racing’s inaugural season with Ford Performance, Harvick racked up two wins, 14 top fives, 23 top-10 results and an average finish of 11. 1. Take a look back at highlights from Harvick’s 17th career season.

After starting on pole and leading 292 of 325 laps, the second race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway only resulted in heartbreak for Kevin Harvick in the closing circuits. A pit-road speeding penalty with 13 laps to go cost 'The Closer' a shot at closing the deal, bringing his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford home in ninth.

Kevin Harvick earned four total Coors Light Pole Awards over the course of the 2017 season, including Las Vegas, Texas, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and Darlington. Harvick notched a fourth-place finish from the pole at Texas in this spring, his best result of the year when starting in the top spot.

It was sweet victory in Sonoma for Kevin Harvick in June, punching a mid-summer ticket into the Monster Energy Series Playoffs. It was a special home state win for the Bakersfield, Calif., native, leading 24 laps en route to just the second road-course triumph of his career.

On July 11, Kevin and his wife, DeLana, announced they were expecting their second child. The couple’s 5-year-old son, Keelan, took to social media to share the news that he was going to gain a little sister in 2018.

Kevin Harvick is an avid golfer. So much of an enthusiast, in fact, he decided have a replica of Augusta National’s famous par-three 12th hole installed in his backyard. Harvick was featured on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive in August, appearing on the show to talk about his passion for racing and golf, as well as the cool construction just steps outside of his North Carolina home.

With his victory at Sonoma Raceway, Harvick was able to join Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch in the Playoffs. Harvick has appeared in every postseason since NASCAR’s switch to an elimination-style playoff format in 2014 – the same year Harvick won his first career Monster Energy Series title.

The 10-race postseason stretch got off to a terrible start for Kevin Harvick and his SHR teammate Kurt Busch. On the final lap of the second stage at New Hampshire, Harvick was tagged from behind by fellow playoff contender Austin Dillon, sending the No. 4 Ford through the spin cycle on the backstretch. Busch was unable to evade the spinning Harvick, slamming into the side of his car. A 36th-place finish put Harvick in a hole, but he was able to rebound with finishes of 17th and third at Dover and Charlotte, respectively, to make it out of the Round of 16 and on through the Round of 8.

The pressure of the playoffs boiled over between Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney at Martinsville in October. The pair swapped paint on multiple occasions throughout the race. Harvick slammed the back bumper of Blaney’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford repeatedly in the second stage as the young driver was doing everything to keep the veteran behind him. In return, Blaney door-slammed Harvick on the backstretch. Neither driver appreciated the exchanges, resulting in a heated but civil conversation after the race. Afterward, Harvick summed everything up perfectly, saying, 'Bent fenders, hurt feelings — I love it.'

Kevin Harvick entered the second race in the Round of 8 at Texas Motor Speedway with a bit of momentum on his side after a fifth-place at Martinsville the week before. Starting third, Harvick led 38 laps on his way to victory, solidifying his spot in the Championship 4 in Miami and showing the rest of the competition that he would be a force for the title. The win also served as the first checkered flag for Harvick in the Lone Star State.

Familiar with how to win a championship in a one-race showdown after achieving the feat in 2014, Kevin Harvick arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway cool, calm and collected. Notching a ninth-place qualifying run, Harvick showed off good Ford Performance speed and power throughout the race, but came up just short of the coveted prize, finishing fourth behind Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson.