Stewart-Haas: Harvick up to daunting Chase task

For his Stewart-Haas Racing support system, there are no misgivings that their lone remaining title hopeful can come through in the clutch.

“Absolutely not. There’s definitely no doubt,” said Tony Stewart, Harvick’s stablemate and team co-owner. “You look how fast he was at Texas in the spring. I think we feel good going to Texas, and Phoenix is one of his favorite tracks. There’s nobody I’d put money on in a two-race deal more than him.”

Mid-race contact from championship rival Matt Kenseth left Harvick 43 laps off the pace in 33rd position after last Sunday’s race, shuffling him to last among the eight drivers still in title contention. The 33-point deficit to new series leader Jeff Gordon isn’t impossible to overcome, but Harvick would need some misfortune to visit some of the Chase competition to advance by points.

The other way to lock into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship under this year’s new format isn’t easy but is less complex — win one of the next two. It’s been done before, even in the new playoff system’s infancy, with Brad Keselowski‘s Talladega victory to avoid elimination taking on the equivalent of a walk-off homer or a buzzer-beater.

Conventional wisdom might say, “don’t drive angry,” but SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli expects Harvick to convert last Sunday’s setback into motivation going forward.

“Obviously, he’s frustrated but he seems to do well when his back is against the wall and I think he wants it,” Zipadelli said. “Nobody is going to give you it. Racing for years, you gotta go earn it, you gotta race it and some days things stack against you and you’ve got to go see what you’re made of. We’ll go to the next couple of races and see what we’ve got. I believe in our people, I believe in our equipment, so we’ve just got to do it.”

A large part of the optimism stems from Harvick’s recent performance at both tracks, starting this weekend with Texas Motor Speedway. Though Harvick finished 42nd at the Fort Worth track in April after suffering engine failure just 28 laps in, he was third-fastest in final practice and third-best in Coors Light Pole Qualifying before his No. 4 Chevrolet broke down.

Harvick’s prospects are even more encouraging at Phoenix International Raceway, where the Eliminator Round finale will cut the remaining Chase field in half to determine its final four. Harvick has won three of the last four Sprint Cup races at the mile track in the Arizona desert, including a dominating victory there in March, when he led 224 of 312 laps in just his second start with the Stewart-Haas operation.

While last weekend’s dust-up with Kenseth made the road ahead more difficult, Rodney Childers — Harvick’s crew chief — maintains there’s no panic in the team’s game plan.

“We’re ready to go,” Childers said. “Our Texas and Phoenix cars are already ready, and our Homestead cars are going there to test. There’s nothing we need to change or do differently. We’ve just got to go win a race.”

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