Harvick: ‘We finished right where we should have’

RELATED: Race results | Playoff standings  JOLIET, Ill. – Sunday’s third-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway earned a smile-and-handshake exchange between Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers on pit road following the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opener. It wasn’t a trip to Victory Lane -- but for the usually dominant No. 4 team, it was what it needed in a season that has only seen one win. “It was a really nice execution all weekend long,” Childers told NASCAR.com. “I felt like we were bringing a good car here and really did a good job through every practice. Everybody worked well together and really made no mistakes the whole weekend. “That’s what we needed to do. We don’t feel like we’re fast enough to win races right now but we showed that we have better speed.” Execution was key for the whole team Sunday — and that’s what they did, Harvick said. “We just had to execute and take what they’ll give you and not finish any worse than that,” Harvick said. “I think we did that today. I felt like the 24 and the 78 were a little better than us and we finished right where we should have.” RELATED: A look at the playoff picture Indeed, Harvick’s third-place run was his best playoffs-opening result since 2013, having notched 42nd- and 20th-place finishes the past two years. But this year’s a bit different, Childers noted. In 2015, Harvick followed up his 42nd-place result with a victory at Dover International Speedway two weeks later. Last season, he rebounded from the subpar 20th-place result at the Illinois track with a trip to Victory Lane the very next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “In years past, we felt like 'He-Men' in a way – we felt like we always had enough speed to where if we made a mistake, we would just come back the next week and win,” Childers said. “And we don’t feel that way anymore. So, we have to be really smart about what we do, make sure that we make the right calls throughout the weekend and during the race. And he’s got to be smart driving the car and just try to points-race a little bit and get our way through a couple rounds and then hopefully we can get our cars better by then.” The smooth, mistake-free run for Harvick in a race that saw many playoff contenders falter gave the No. 4 driver solace moving forward. “Everyone did a great job today,” Harvick said. “That is what we have to do to compete for the championship. I know we can do that as a team because we have done that before and executed whether our backs have been against the wall or we have been off, we have always figured a way out. “That is the plan. We will keep doing that. Today we made it happen.”