Harvick is kind of an interesting case. He wins a share of races he really shouldn't, but also loses a share of races he should win. I guess it evens out?
Victory eludes Kevin Harvick at Atlanta despite fast car -- again
By Tom Jensen
For the fourth time in the last five races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick led more than 100 laps, this time pacing the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 for 131 of 329 circuits on Sunday.
But once again Harvick didn't win, just like he didn't win the other three times he led more than 100 laps.
In fact, Harvick only win at the 1.54-mile track came in his rookie season of 2001, just three weeks after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing.
Now with Stewart-Haas Racing, Harvick had the car to beat for most of the day at Atlanta until a bad pit stop late in the race, combined with the handling going away on his Chevrolet and a less-than-ideal final restart left him sixth at the end.
Not bad, certainly, but not the result he wanted, for sure.
"We had issues about the last three runs," Harvick said. "I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling. And then we had a slow pit stop there. We got way behind and the No. 48 Johnson) was way out front and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear burned up."
And in the end, that was the difference between winning and finishing sixth.
"We just didn't execute today, but everybody on our Jimmy John's/Busch Chevrolet hung in there all day and we'll keep at it," said Harvick.
Victory eludes Kevin Harvick at Atlanta Motor Speedway despite fast car -- again
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Harvick: ‘We Just Didn’t Execute Today’
As he led lap after lap, it looked like Kevin Harvick was headed to victory lane in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. However, the past series champion came up short, finishing sixth.
Harvick started in the sixth spot, then quickly made his way to the front of the field, taking the lead in the early stages. Over the course of the event, he led 131 of the 330 laps.
Harvick might have cruised to victory if not for a pit road miscue. With 49 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus brought Johnson down pit road. Rodney Childers called Harvick to pit road eight laps later, and the crew had a small hang up on the left side.
Throughout the race, the tires would fall off in speed during the first 20 laps of a run, before the times evened out. With Johnson taking his tires sooner and the issue on pit road, Harvick returned to the track over 13 seconds behind Johnson. Harvick closed the gap down to six seconds, but couldn’t draw closer.
“We got way behind and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was way out front, and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear burned up,” Harvick said.
Before the issue on pit road, though, Harvick stated their problems truly began at the beginning of the run with handling issues, allowing the field to close the gap on him.
“We had issues about the last three runs,” he said. “I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling.”
The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team got a chance to redeem themselves by virtue of a late-race caution, which set up a two-lap shootout for the finish. Harvick’s team got him off pit road in second place, giving him the outside on the front row for the final restart. Harvick didn’t challenge Johnson for the lead, though, as he spun the tires before fading back to the sixth spot at the end of the race.
“We just didn’t execute today, but everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Chevrolet hung in there all day, and we’ll keep at it,” he said.
Bound for another mile-and-a-half track next weekend, Harvick hopes to take the lessons learned today and put together a solid performance.
Harvick: ‘We Just Didn’t Execute Today’ – POPULAR SPEED
HARVICK COMES UP SHORT FOR THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR AT ATLANTA
HAMPTON, Ga. -- For the third consecutive season, and the fourth in the last five,Kevin Harvick had a dominant car at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Also for the third consecutive season, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver did not come away with the victory at the 1.54-mile track.
Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was a series of long green-flag runs, interrupted on only three occasions late by the caution flag.
A slower-than-typical pit stop by Harvick's pit crew with less than 50 laps remaining and a late caution that put him on the outside for a green-white-checkered restart were hurdles he and the crew chief Rodney Childers-led team were unable to overcome.
Harvick led nine times for 131 laps. He finished sixth.
"We had issues about the last three runs," the 2014 Sprint Cup champion said. "I had to start driving the car different. It just required a little bit different handling.
"And then we had a slow pit stop there. We got way behind and the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was way out front and I had to drive the car really hard and got the right rear burned up.
"We just didn't execute today but everybody … hung in there all day, and we'll keep at it."
Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) had a spirited battle during the second half of the race, swapping the lead eight times during a stretch of nearly 100 laps.
But while they were racing, crew chief Chad Knaus was studying, and when he pulled six-time champion Jimmie Johnson to pit road for the final time earlier than most, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was suddenly a player.
Harvick pitted a few laps later, and his stop lasted a few seconds longer. Most felt that the fresher tires would enable him to eventually catch Johnson, but the gap between the two remained constant as the laps disappeared.
When the caution came out for the second time, setting up a two-lap dash, Harvick and a handful of others had one final shot. But Johnson was driving away when a second accident unfolded, effectively ended the event.
When starting on the outside, as his driver did, Childers said, "You don't have a chance. That's just part of it."
"It sucks to have that good of a car and not win, for sure. But I didn't feel like we could pit when the 48 pitted. I just didn't think our tires would last that long," he said.
"And then we had the mishap on pit road and lost a bunch of time. Then we were just too loose on that last run. It's one of those things -- you don't want to beat yourself but we definitely did it today."
Another 1.5-mile venue in Las Vegas -- the first of three races in the West Coast swing -- is up next, and Sunday's run offers promises of better days ahead for the No. 4 team, which won back-to-back at Las Vegas and Phoenix last season.
"I feel good about the speed we had all weekend," Childers said. "The car drove good; it was nice to get everybody in a rhythm, have our new engineer here, he had the flu the last two days … but it still worked out OK."
Harvick comes up short for third straight year at Atlanta | NASCAR.com
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