The Associated Press
LOUDON, N.H.—Kevin Harvick has thrived as NASCAR’s version of a Game 7 master—steeling his nerves and flourishing in those win-or-else races that kept a championship push alive.
His “Chase” off to a rocky start, Harvick had a rousing finish yesterday that eliminated a must-win race for him and parked him in the next playoff round.
Harvick won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to earn a spot in the second round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, pulling away off a restart a year after a late loss at the track.
“It’s kind of like an addiction,” Harvick said.
“You just love the rush of being able to be behind and be able to perform and make that happen.”
Harvick finished 20th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship opener, which stuck him 15th in the standings.
With another weak finish at New Hampshire, Harvick would have faced yet another race at Dover he may have had to win to advance.
His lap times in the No. 4 Chevrolet only got faster deeper into the race and he soon was nipping at Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth at the front of the field.
Kenseth dominated the second half of the race and seemed poised to win at New Hampshire for the third-straight time.
Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup champion, had enough juice in the Chevy to zip past Kenseth with five laps left and join Truex as the drivers locked in the next round.
Truex won the “Chase” opener at Chicagoland and he led a race-high 141 laps at New Hampshire.
Harvick ran out of fuel late last year at New Hampshire to lose and faced a win-or-elimination race the next week at Dover.
He rallied for one of the biggest wins of his career to survive another round.
Harvick won in a similar situation in 2014 at Phoenix, when he needed a victory to advance to the championship race.
He won the finale and the championship at Homestead.
“The last two years, we’ve kind of just worn ourselves out and really stressed out over trying to perform at this level,” Harvick said.
At Dover, it’s up to 14 other drivers to worry about a win.
The 16-driver “Chase” field will be cut to 12 after Dover.
Kenseth won the May race at Dover and appears in solid shape to reach the second round.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kenseth and Kyle Busch were second and third yesterday.
They were followed by “Chase” drivers Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Truex, and Jimmie Johnson.
Kyle Larson was 10th, Joey Logano 11th, Chase Elliott 13th, Denny Hamlin 15th, Austin Dillon 16th, Jamie McMurray 19th, Tony Stewart 23rd, and Chris Buescher 30th.
McMurray, Dillon, Stewart, and Buescher are the bottom four drivers in the standings.
