9:32 AM
JD
So far, this season, Harvick has had decent finishes, including a 4th and a 6th place finish. However, disappointment at Daytona where he finished 42nd, and a mediocre 17th at Phoenix had him 15th in the points heading into Auto Club Speedway in California on Sunday. He returned to form, though, bye charging from mid pack to a late race win.
His first place finish moved him to 9th in Sprint Cup points, just 30 points behind leader Carl Edwards. Although it is very early to talk about points, the fact that Harvick is beginning to place marks in his win column for the year will only help him when the Chase begins and drivers are placed by number of wins. Have no doubt, when the Chase starts this fall, Harvick will be in it, and he will be charging even harder than 2010. The only place he will be satisfied seeing Jimmie Johnson will be in his rear view mirror, growing smaller.
Of course, that is no small task. Since its inception, no driver/crew chief team has had the Chase figured out better than Johnson and Knaus. They have perfected the art of preparation during the season for winning during the final ten races. During his five championship runs, Johnson has won 13 out of 50 chase races. That is over 25% of the Chase races.
During those same years, Harvick has only 2 wins during the Chase, a stat he well definitely have to change if he wants to be the one to dethrone “Five Time” before he becomes “Six Time.” Harvick’s problem in recent years has been that he has faded late in the season, due to a mix of lack of focus and team issues. In 2010, however, he was strong during the Chase, but came up short mostly due to a couple of stumbles early in the Chase.
Another stat he will have to best is that of no stumbles in the Chase. During the past five Chases, Johnson has had two finishes of 30th or worse and four finishes of 20th or worse in 50 races. That is almost as amazing as his Chase win total. If someone wishes to beat Johnson, they will truly have to race a flawless ten races – no DNF’s, and charge back from any adversity.
It is early yet, but it seems there are more teams preparing for the Chase this year and some may have caught on to the Knaus/Johnson recipe for Chase success. If not, I am certain that they will be glad to give just one more lesson…
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Posted in: Chad knaus,Jimmie Johnson,Kevin Harvick,Nascar,Nascar Blog,nascar news,Racing,racing blog,Sprint Cup
2 comments:
Hey JD!
JJ and Knaus have had this Chase deal wired for quite some time. It's a model that's been out there for quite awhile but, as Gene Haddock has pointed out on more than one occasion, nobody else seems to have read the 48 team's book (and evidently that goes for the other three HMS teams as well)... It's a low risk/high reward process in the pre-Chase season, then turning on all the knowledge gained in the first 26 races to unleash a strong drive through the final 10 runs.
Concerning some of the other top drivers, I have to wonder about those that continue to drive in the NW and CWTS races as the season unfolds. Top contenders like Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch fall into that category and all seem to not have enough during the late drive to the Cup. You don't see JJ doing that, so maybe part of the keys to success is maintaining a driver's focus on the the ultimate prize in NASCAR... The Sprint Cup Championship. I know there are other top drivers that don't like to dabble in the lower series either (Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, and to a lesser extent, Tony Stewart) and guess what, they've all won the Cup in their careers...
You're right, it's still early. Let's see if Kevin has figured things out (including how to rattle JJ) and makes a run to the Championship.
I think Kevin will figure it out. He's only running another COUPLE of Nationwide Series races FOR THE SEASON. Plus one more CWTS race. He's mostly going to have Menard and Bowyer in the #33 NNS Chevrolet and Cale Gale in NNS races in separate venues from Cup. (He may also have Nelson Piquet Jr or Ron Hornaday driving the #33 in a race or two.) With him running a very limited NNS/CWTS schedule, I see him becoming a VERY legitimate threat to JJ's dominance. I can see another three or four wins by Kevin before the Chase and 2-3 wins and a slew of top 5's in the Chase.
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