Kevin Harvick encouraged by sixth-place finish at Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS - In a season full of disappointment, Kevin Harvick’s top-10 finish in Sunday's Allstate 400 came as a welcome relief.
The Richard Childress Racing driver, a consensus pick to make NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup this season, instead rolled into the race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway 25th in the series standings. He had only two top-10s all year, with his last coming at Atlanta in early March.
Harvick has seen signs of improvement in his team’s performance in recent weeks, but had not posted the results to prove it. A sixth-place finish in one of the biggest races of the year gives him that proof.
“It was a good day,” said Harvick, who won the 2003 Brickyard 400. “We had a little bit of trouble on pit road for a few stops. The last stop was good. The car was good all day. [Our] Chevrolet has run like that the last few weeks, we just haven’t had anything to show for it. The guys did a good job all day and the car was fast all day.”
Harvick was the lone shining light for the four-car RCR team at Indy, as teammates Clint Bowyer, who finished 18th, Casey Mears (19th) and Jeff Burton (25th) all had issues. That’s been the story all year at RCR, which placed three teams in the Chase last season but doesn’t have a driver currently ranked in the top 12.
At least the Indy race was a good sign for Harvick.
“This particular team, the No. 29 team has been running better for the last four or five weeks,” Harvick said. “Like I said the finishes, we have just had stupid stuff happen, wrecks and things like that. … So, it is going in the right direction for us.”
