Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin can't match Joey Logano at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. — In the Chase for the Sprint Cup, there is one short track (Martinsville Speedway) and two longer tracks that are raced like short tracks in New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.
Success at those venues can be critical in the Chase. The last short-track race before the Chase is the Sept. 12 event at Richmond International Raceway, one that will not only produce the final Chase qualifiers but also will provide a last bullring shot at experimentation before the Chase.
If short-track smarts count a lot, Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway puts a bright shine on Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing.
JGR’s Kyle Busch led 192 laps (the night’s high), although a pit-road speeding penalty cost him a shot at the win. Joey Logano won the race for Team Penske, leading 176 laps and masterfully holding off Kevin Harvick for the victory.
Harvick didn’t lead a lap in the Stewart-Haas No. 4 Chevrolet, but he rallied from penalties to run in Logano’s shadow over the closing miles and scored his 10th second-place finish of the year. The list of Harvick’s runner-up races reads like a NASCAR travelogue: Daytona, Atlanta, Fontana, Texas, Richmond, Kansas, Dover, Pocono, Michigan and now Bristol. Three of those — Dover, Kansas and Texas — are in the Chase.
Harvick has won twice this year but isn’t rejecting the concept of other top fives — an idea that works in the Chase.
“I think you have to put it all in perspective,” Harvick said. “I've been in position where you're fighting for your life to run 15th. Just like last year, we were kind of in this little slump, and this isn't really a slump. This is just kind of circumstances we self‑created tonight with two penalties on pit road.
“But in the end those circumstances have kept us from winning some races, and we've had lug nuts knock valve stems off twice, and we were leading with an engine blowup. But when you're in position to do that and finish second 10 times and win a couple races, that's half the races that we've run so far.
“I'm not frustrated at all because I've been on the other side of this fence, and you'd give everything in the world to finish second every week because it's not easy.”
Harvick and third-place Denny Hamlin, both Chase qualifiers, chased Logano to no avail Saturday night. Hamlin faded over the final portion of the race, leaving Harvick with the only decent shot at Logano.
The issue, Hamlin said, was track change.
“I thought we all (JGR drivers) had a great shot, for sure, but this track changes so much,” Hamlin said. “We practice in the mornings. The track is not rubbered up. Then we practice in the middle of the afternoon and the track's rubbered up, but it's hotter. So the conditions — everything changes so much at night here that you can't just think that because you're really good in practice you're going to be good in the race.”
Next month, with the arrival of the Chase, dealing with those track changes, particularly on shorter tracks, will be a key to success in the most important part of the season.
Follow Hembree on Twitter @mikehembree
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