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AVONDALE, Ariz. — An interesting jumble of personalities make up the last four drivers who will battle for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship next Sunday.
The only constant among the final four? Kevin Harvick, the man who may not have to hand over his crown after all.
Harvick wasn’t able to extend his streak of Phoenix International Raceway victories to five in a quirky, rain-shortened event in the desert, but he kept his title defense alive, punching his ticket on the basis of points as the only driver returning to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I feel like I don’t want to be greedy and be disappointed with how it went today when you look at the big picture,” said Harvick, who wound up second despite leading 143 of 219 laps. “I think it’s definitely been a Chase that’s been a little bit up and down for us, but the guys have battled through, and we’ve survived a lot of situations to be in contention for next week.
“You always want to win when you have a car like we did today, but I’ll take it again next week.”
Next weekend will mark a return to the 1.5-mile track where Harvick took the checkered flag and his first series title. But it will also come with the chance for a championship repeat after a topsy-turvy Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.
Harvick faced a major Chase hurdle before its first race was complete, crashing at Chicagoland and needing — and getting — a clutch victory at Dover to keep the championship push alive. Then came the strange ending at Talladega, with his No. 4 car advancing despite being at the center of a slow-speed crash.
The final three-race series went the smoothest, with finishes of eighth, third and second pushing Harvick into the championship pool. In Sunday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM) at Homestead, he’ll have a chance to extend his reign.
“Well, I feel like we’ve overcome a lot of things throughout the Chase,” Harvick said. “We’ve survived and advanced. It hasn’t been 100 percent pretty from one end to the other, but I think as you look at the Chase, it’s been championship material and that’s proven by making it to the championship race. I’m just really proud of everybody and we’re going to go down there and just do like we’ve done and race as hard as we can.”