RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings
FORT WORTH, Texas — Two tire punctures and a balky transmission should have spelled the end of Kevin Harvick‘s bid for a second consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
But in spite of the avalanche of setbacks, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver still managed to pull off a stunning third-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway to keep his title hopes alive.
Third in points, Harvick is one of seven drivers still scrambling to secure a spot in the four-car championship round scheduled for later this month at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“As you look at the things we’ve had, we’ve had really good race cars and that allows us to overcome things like today with two flat tires,” Harvick said on pit road after the 334-lap race. “Even with the shifter problem we were able to maintain what we had. But all in all, we just kept gouging away and everything worked out in the end.”
Debris from an earlier accident cut a rear tire on Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet less than 40 laps into the race as he was running in the top five. Able to make it to pit road without damaging his car, Harvick stayed on the lead lap, but eventually restarted outside the top 25.
He wasted no time in getting back inside the top 10, and eventually the top five once again. He was dogging race leader Brad Keselowski on Lap 281 when the second tire puncture sent him back to pit road under green.
Because the field was preparing for a round of green-flag stops, the incident wasn’t as big of a setback as it might have otherwise been for the team.
“There was debris everywhere,” Harvick said. “The first caution, they just blew all the debris down to the inside wall. It seemed like a lot of people were hitting the wall and there was a lot of stuff out there today. It definitely was interesting with all the tire problems.
“I never felt the tire blow apart. It was a real slow deflation as I felt the first one in the middle of the corner. I felt the second one in the middle of the corner, too, and we were able to get the car down. The only part I was disappointed in is I misplaced which tire it was both times.
While several teams were battling tire issues brought on by air pressure adjustments and a lack of on-track time (both of Saturday’s practice sessions were canceled due to wet track conditions), crew chief Rodney Childers said other than the punctured tires, actual tire wear wasn’t an issue for the No. 4 team.
RELATED: Tire issues forces Harvick to pit
“At first I was blaming it on myself,” Childers said of the first flat. “I thought maybe I didn’t have enough air in it. But it was definitely a puncture. I’ve got the piece in my bag. It looked like a window shim, probably out of the 22 car (of Joey Logano). And then the right rear that we had a problem with later, there was a big puncture in it also.”
Childers didn’t blame NASCAR for the debris, noting, “when those things come apart, it just tears the car to pieces.
“It’s really hard for NASCAR to clean all that stuff up,” he said. “The one that got our left rear, it was anodized black. You would have never seen it on a black race track. I know they are doing the best job they can. As a competitor you want he race track to be clean but on the other hand I know they’re trying their best also.”
As if the tire problems weren’t enough, a problem with the transmission left Harvick driving nearly the final 100 laps while holding the gear shifter in place.
“It hadn’t missed a gear or jammed a gear or anything like that,” he said. “It shifted smooth all weekend. I was just going along like normal. One lap, all of a sudden it just pops out of gear in the middle of the straightaway. So I don’t really know. That’s happened to us several times, so we definitely need to figure that out.”
Childers said it could have been a “freak thing” that “may never happen again.” But it’s clearly been an issue for the team.
“We don’t build our transmissions,” Childers said. “… We’re going to have to do something a little different there. We’re the only people that run these transmissions.”
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon clinched one of the four Chase spots with his victory at Martinsville Speedway a week ago. Teammate Jimmie Johnson‘s win Sunday at Texas kept any other Chase driver from automatically earning a berth.
Leaving Harvick to head to Phoenix International Raceway next weekend where he’s has won seven times, including the last four races.
Kyle Busch (4,080), Harvick (4,079) and Martin Truex Jr. (4,076) are currently second through fourth, respectively, in the points standings.
Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano round out the eight Chase drivers.