Why Kevin Harvick will win the 2017 Monster Energy Series title

RELATED: Buy tickets for Homestead-Miami Championship Weekend Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of four stories examining why each driver could win the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.  RECAP: Martin Truex Jr. | Kyle Busch | Brad Keselowski • • • Kevin Harvick will win the 2017 championship because …  He's "The Closer." The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has a history of sealing the deal late in races, and we've yet to see a title won in this format that didn't come down to the wire -- with all three champions holding off his playoff competitors and winning the race outright since its debut in 2014. And who set the bar for that? Harvick, the 2014 champion. The veteran driver is near-untouchable at Miami in his career, as the statistical leader in top-five finishes (eight), top 10s (14), laps run (4,277), and lead-lap finishes (15). He has the best driver rating among the Championship 4 at the 1.5-mile facility at 106.0 and sports a nice average finish of 6.9 -- with the next closest among the four being Truex at 12.3. In addition to his Miami-specific stats, Harvick has been sensational on intermediate tracks in general in 2017, only finishing outside the top 10 once, at Las Vegas. The 2014 champ crashed out of that one with a tire going down shortly before the end of Stage 1 ... while racing inside the top 10. All of this could lead to just one more "Monster" reason for Harvick to be happy come Sunday night. MORE: Kevin and DeLana through the years | Breaking down the Championship 4