Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) has ridden consecutive runner-up runs to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points lead. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) has ridden consecutive victories to a potential 20 bonus points, to start the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Collectively, those two situations represent what’s needed to capture the series championship.
"We can run with them and they know it."— Kevin Harvick
Consistency remains a vital component, but these days that’s not enough. An increased “emphasis on winning” initiative now awards Chase drivers 10 bonus points for each race win during the “regular season” — the 26 races prior to the season-ending 10-race Chase. When the Chase begins, all drivers who qualify have their points “reset” to 5,000, whereupon bonus points are added to create the Chase seedings. Since it seems safe to assume that Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, will be one of the 12 drivers who qualify for the Chase, it’s worth noting that 20 points could be a significant boost come “playoff” time. Bonus points certainly didn’t hurt Johnson last year; he got 30 extra and a 5,030 starting total, second-best behind top seed Mark Martin (No. 5 Hendrickcars.com/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet).
Harvick is returning this week to the race track where he got his first victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, in March 2001, in only his third start after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt in Richard Childress Racing’s flagship car. Harvick edged Jeff Gordon on that memorable, emotional day, by .006-seconds. Harvick has been buoyed by his team’s fast start and talked optimistically at Las Vegas about the prospects of challenging Johnson’s team over the course of this season “We can run with them and they know it,” Harvick said.
The importance of winning races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will require that — and more. Johnson acknowledges the threat posed by Harvick, which he sees as a group effort by the Richard Childress Racing organization. After all Harvick and Clint Bowyer (No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet) are 1-2 in points for the second straight week and the third Childress driver, Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet), is seventh. “You can’t ignore that those three have a ton of speed,” Johnson said.
