DARLINGTON, S.C. — Every contestant in the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series playoff field faces the question, but for Kevin Harvick, it’s ultra pertinent.
How far can he and his team go in this year’s playoffs?
Nine wins in last year’s regular season made his championship stake seem all but guaranteed. Then the sterling year came back void when he failed to make the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.
Now, his winless record through 26 races this year puts him on the wrong end of the playoff leaderboard: 16th, the lone driver with zero bonus points.
Harvick gets a chance to turn his season around when the playoffs kick off Sunday at Darlington Raceway.
“This is like starting a new season,” said Harvick.
“We’re in the playoffs,” Harvick continued, addressing a question that asked to describe a successful postseason. “I think you really have to see where you’re at from a performance standpoint, how you’ve done, and all those things that go with that.
“Ask me that question in three weeks,” he said.
There has been no indication of speed for Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team all season.
His 11.5 average finish is his worst in seven years. His six top-five finishes are his least since 2013 and he hasn’t added to that category since June 27 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
Two components work in his favor, however. The first is his track record at Darlington.
He’s won two of the last three races at the tough 1.366-mile speedway. He’s finished ninth or better in 11 straight races at the historic facility, too. In the spring, he started second, led some laps, and finished sixth.
No bubble driver amounts to that. A win Saturday certainly isn’t out of the question, which means his immediate Championship 4 hopes aren’t either.
“You look back, did anybody think Chase Elliott was going to win last year?” Harvick said. “Or Joey Logano a couple years ago? You just never know. There’s so many things that happen throughout these playoffs that you don’t know the twists and turns of what happens.
“You have to know when you go into these playoffs there’s going to be a bunch of things that happen you don’t expect and scenarios and situations,” he added. “You just prepare the best you can to control the things you can and try not to screw that up.”
The second component holding Harvick upright is his battle-tested, tranquil demeanor.
Surrounding bubble drivers Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell haven’t faced many pressure situations in their respective careers.
Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, and Brad Keselowski, positioned ninth through 11th in the standings, haven’t had great seasons either and their prospects also hang in the balance.
“There’s really nothing that can surprise me at this point,” Harvick said. “As I tell people, I’ve seen the magnitude of magnitudes after the 2001 Daytona 500 crash with Dale [Earnhardt Sr.], and walking into the press conference and answering those questions and all the things that come with that. You just go race. That’s about it.”