Harvick starts Chase on right foot

Harvick’s fifth-place finish marked his ninth top-five in 27 races this season, and it came on the heels of a fifth-place run at Richmond. And although Brad Keselowski shot through the gap between Harvick and Kyle Larson with 16 laps to go in a bold move that helped the No. 2 take the checkered flag, Harvick still picked up two important bonus points for leading the most laps (79) and leading a lap.

As a result, Harvick was fourth in the point standings coming out of Chicagoland, with an 18-point cushion between himself and the 13th-place driver Ryan Newman. The No. 4 team got a positive result after making a pit crew change during the week and moved on to New Hampshire in good shape.

“We led a bunch of laps and finished top five so that’s not terrible by our standards,” Harvick said. “The 42 (Larson) just was better on that next-to-last run and got in front of us, and I struggled for whatever reason on used tires on those restarts to make the car turn up off the corners.”

Because Larson got ahead he was able to restart on the bottom with 18 laps to go, and Harvick said that was one of the keys to Larson holding him off on the restart while Keselowski bolted past both of them two laps later.

“On the restarts, for whatever reason I was tight those last several restarts up on exit, so I had to kind of go into defensive mode,” Harvick said. “Obviously, Kyle wants to win a race and that’s how you’re supposed to race and everybody was going after it pretty hard. It was a fun day. I’m proud of all my guys on my Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for the job that they did, and it’s a solid start to the Chase.”

However, Harvick’s day wasn’t without some challenges that the No. 4 team needed to overcome. Harvick started 12th, but dropped to 21st after he had to come back to pit road to check on a loose wheel after a round of pit stops following a debris caution on Lap 68.

After another round of pit stops during a Lap 100 debris caution, Harvick moved up to 11th place. And by Lap 125, he had worked his way into the top three, which is where he stood at the halfway point of the race.

Then, after a round of green-flag stops during Laps 146-149, Harvick managed to grab the lead on Lap 151. He held that lead until Larson passed him on Lap 228. Harvick and Larson traded the lead on Laps 249-251, before Keselowski made the daring move that captured the lead on Lap 252 that he took all the way to the finish.

In the end, Harvick dropped not only behind Keselowski and Larson, but also fell in back of Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano. But considering what happened to some of the other Chase drivers in the opener at Chicagoland, it was not a cause for concern.

Harvick ran among the top-five drivers from Lap 120 till the end, and Keselowski gave a nod to the No. 4 as one of the fastest, if not the fastest, car out there. And chances are we haven’t heard the last from the No. 4 in this Chase.

MORE: