Harvick finishes strong in LifeLock 400

JOLIET — Day or night, hot or cold — it doesn’t matter.

Something about racing at Chicagoland Speedway agrees with Kevin Harvick.

Harvick, who helped break in the speedway with back-to-back victories in 2001 and ’02, enjoyed another strong run Saturday night in the LifeLock.com 400.

He climbed from the 13th starting position to a third-place finish and nearly worked his way into the mix with the leaders following the last restart. Kyle Busch passed Jimmie Johnson in Turn 3 and staved off Johnson’s counter move over the final lap to claim his seventh victory in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

Harvick snapped a slump of sorts. He last ran in the top-10 at Richmond on May 3.

And he started the night sitting two points behind Tony Stewart in the unlucky No. 13 position on the driver point standings list.

“We had a good car all night,” Harvick said. “We’ve kind of struggled for the last few weeks with good cars, but just haven’t quite finished where we had run all night. Tonight, we finally got everything to go in the same direction, the right direction, and finish it out.

“So, it was a good night. I’m proud of all my guys. We’ve built new cars the last couple of weeks. They’ve worked really hard to get these cars going. And the engine shop has really been gaining some ground.

“So, hopefully, we gain some momentum and keep everything headed in the right direction these next few weeks heading to the end of the Chase.”

Harvick jumped to ninth in the point standings, 573 behind Busch, the leader, and enjoyed the best seat in the house for the finish. Busch, in the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota, and Johnson, in the No. 48, Lowe’s Chevrolet, were right in front of him.

“I thought I was in a pretty good spot, to tell you the truth,” Harvick said. “When the 18 got up on the outside of the 48, he just, the 48 looked like he needed the momentum. His car looked like it was free I don’t know if it was or not.

“But it looked like he needed to carry the momentum all the way to the outside. And the 18 was there and just did a good job on the restart and made it stick and made it happen. So, I thought the 48 was going to get him there going into Turn 3 and we might sneak one through there.

“But it was still a good night for us and an exciting finish.”

Harvick’s best previous finish this season was second at Bristol.

“We don’t ever give up until it’s over,” he said. “In those situations, it’s very easy to kind of get loose underneath somebody or something happens, so you just go as hard as you can. I really thought, yeah, we had a shot. We were just a touch off those two guys most of the night and kept ourselves in position.

“I felt we were better than everybody behind us. I felt like the series came off what was probably the most exciting race we’ve had with this car last week. It was fun to be a part of fun and probably fun to watch. And it was another exciting finish tonight.

“So, I feel like everything is going good with the cars.”

Harvick showed he was no ordinary rookie by winning the inaugural Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway in 2001. He landed his ride after Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500.

In ’02, he cut it as close as he could in winning for the second straight time at Chicagoland Speedway. How close? His car ran out of fuel on his victory lap.

“Yeah, we’ve always run really well in everything that we’ve been able to run here,” Harvick said. “And, you know, we came here the very first time as a company and had a great test.

“Ever since that point, it just seems like we’ve run well and the track just fits my driving characteristics and the things that we do with the car. We’ve been able to adapt every time we’ve come here.”

 

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