Kevin Harvick pits during Atlanta's Kobalt Tools 500 on Sunday.
TO BE EXPECTED
Kevin Harvick again quietly climbing through standings
By Lee Montgomery / SceneDaily.com
HAMPTON, GA -- Though he won the Daytona 500 last year, by the time the Cup series left Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick was seventh in the points standings.
This year, though, Harvick has quietly surged to third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, helped by a hard-fought seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta.
Consistency has been the key to Harvick’s solid start, as he’s yet to finish lower than 14th. He was eighth in California, fourth in Las Vegas and seventh in Atlanta.
Harvick is one of only six Sprint Cup drivers to record three top-10 finishes this season, and he’s 91 points behind leader Kyle Busch in the standings.
At Atlanta, home of Harvick’s triumphant first career victory in 2001, he started eighth, ran in the top five and came home behind Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer.
"It was a good day for us today,” Harvick said. “We just need to get a little more consistent in the pits. But, it was a good day for us, we got another solid finish and had a good points day.”
Harvick and crew chief Todd Berrier fought with the handling of the No. 29 Chevrolet as they tried to get the harder Goodyear tires hooked up to the track.
“Like everybody else, we went from tight to loose, and there that last run at the end, we just got so loose and couldn't do anything with the guys in front of us," Harvick said.
