| | | | | | WELL...YEAH | Harvick's streak of finished races aids consistency | |
| | By SceneDaily Staff Kevin Harvick and his Richard Childress Racing team are on a streak of 51 consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup races in which they have been running at the end, and it's not the first time he’s shown this level of consistency.
Harvick is approaching his own record of 58 consecutive races without a DNF, a run that ran from Oct. 3, 2002, until Aug. 1, 2004.
Not only has he been running at the end of races in this stretch, he’s doing so in style. Harvick, 32, is second in the standings to teammate Jeff Burton entering Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
While he opened last season in more dramatic fashion, winning the Daytona 500, Harvick obviously is enjoying the consistency of this season more.
“The only thing we did right at the beginning of last year was win the Daytona 500,” he said. “This year we’ve been fortunate to run consistently week in and week out, and that’s what you have to do to win the championship. If we can keep running consistent and put ourselves in position to win every week we will have a chance at the championship at the end of the season.”
Looking over his statistics, a strong run at Phoenix is certainly plausible.
In 10 series starts at Phoenix, Harvick has two wins, three top-five and five top-10 finishes. He has netted an average starting position of 15.7 and an average finish of 13.2, completing all but 17 laps in his races there. He’s also the only driver to win in all three of
NASCAR’s top series at the track.
Harvick understands the track well, though he says he doesn’t compare it to a the short tracks such as Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway.
“I don’t really see Phoenix as a short track,” he said. “Even though places like Phoenix and New Hampshire are only a mile, they both have a lot of room to race. Phoenix is always a fun race track. There are always at least two lanes, and sometimes even more, to pass. I always seem to do well at Phoenix, so I’m excited to see what we can do this weekend.”
| | Posted April 09, 2008 , 12:43 pm EST
Last Updated April 09, 2008 , 12:44 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
