What pressure? Kevin Harvick is free to run his own race on Sunday

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Kevin Harvick has nothing to lose on Sunday – except maybe his car.

But for any driver entering a race at Talladega Superspeedway, there are no guarantees of surviving to the checkered flag.

“You just come here knowing that you’ve got a 50-50 shot whether you’re going to roll out of here on the tow truck or on your own four wheels,” said Harvick, who will start 39th on Sunday.

His record of ending up on the wrecker is a little better than that in the last five races where Harvick’s status was “crash” in two of the events. But unlike most of the Chasers, Harvick and Kansas winner Joey Logano control their own destiny.

Free pass

After winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday, Harvick automatically transfers to the Eliminator Round of the Chase. Crew chief Rodney Childers feels “fortunate” that the No. 4 Chevy team can simply go out and race on Sunday.

I definitely believe there will be drama and people worried to death about where they are all the time.

Rodney Childers

“We don’t have to worry about points,” Childers said. “We won’t even have it up on the monitor. We’ll just run our own race like we did when we were here in the spring, just try to win another race.

“But I definitely believe there will be drama and people worried to death about where they are all the time. Hopefully that doesn’t lead to a lot of wrecks – and I’m glad we’re not in the middle of that for sure.”

Harvick admits there’s less pressure on the team since they won’t have to “worry about a strategy” and can race for a win. And that’s precisely what he plans to do.

“Those guys have worked hard on the cars to make them as good as they can no matter the scenario,” Harvick said of his crew. “At the bare minimum, we owe it to them and the fans to race as hard as we can and take the same approach as we have all year – try to run well in practice, qualify well, lead laps and try to win a race.

“If it works out, it works out. That’s the thing that comes out of last week. If it works out, fine and if doesn’t, fine. Just race hard.”

The heat is on

Harvick has one win, six top fives and 11 top 10 finishes at Talladega in 27 starts. But a victory on Sunday could mean more than another piece of hardware in the trophy case. A victory guarantees that some of Harvick’s best competition – Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – entering the Chase would be denied a shot at the title.

Anytime you see people in a vulnerable position where they could not advance to the next round, from a competitor’s standpoint you want to do everything you can do to try and keep an upper hand.

Kevin Harvick

“Anytime you see people in a vulnerable position where they could not advance to the next round, from a competitor’s standpoint you want to do everything you can do to try and keep an upper hand,” Harvick said. “Whatever your best shot is for your team is what you want to see happens. You may have some feelings one way or the other toward teams and drivers and different people, and you want to see different scenarios play out and the excitement that goes with it. But in the end, you want the best scenario for your team to win a championship from pure greed standpoint, I guess you could say.

“Really that’s what we’re here to do and that’s win the championship and you want the best scenario for your team. It will be an interesting weekend regardless of how it all shakes out and who wins the race. It will be as interesting a lead-in to a weekend that we’ve had just because of the format, the scenarios, the cars on the outside looking in, how close everyone is, coming to Talladega… there are just so many variables in what could happen. For me, I’m just excited for the sport and looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out.”

Peaking at the right time

Despite all the freaky things that have plagued the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team in their first season together, Childers feels his men are ready to make a championship run.

“We haven’t had any problems – mechanically – on the car since all the way back at Texas – and that was actually an engine problem,” Childress said. “The rest of it has just come down to things going our way and a little bit of luck going our way. Dover, we knocked a valve stem off. I don’t know how in the world you manage do that.

“But the cars have been fast and the guys have done a good job, the pit crew has done a good job and I feel like everything is where it needs to be right now.”

Harvick agrees. Although he’s enjoyed successful efforts in his 14 seasons in the Sprint Cup Series, Harvick, 38, believes this is his best opportunity to win the title.

“We’re doing as good a job in anything I’ve been involved in,” Harvick said. “The main thing is the speed in the race cars. You know what piece has been there all year and you don’t have to worry about that. We’ve continued to have that and it becomes a matter of controlling all the things we can control. I feel good about all those pieces.”