NASCAR: Kevin Harvick isn’t interested in last year’s playoffs
By Asher Fair
Kevin Harvick shockingly missed out on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4. But he isn’t interested in thinking about that as he pursues what could be his second title in 2021.
If there is one NASCAR Cup Series driver who has suffered from the modern playoff format as far as championships are concerned, it is 2014 champion Kevin Harvick.
On points alone, Harvick would be a four-time Cup Series champion, as well as the current reigning champion. And most interestingly, his actual 2014 title would not be one of those four titles.
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Last year, Harvick dominated the series, winning seven races in the regular season to seal the regular season championship and secure the top seed heading into the playoffs.
But despite two early playoff wins, which gave him the highest single-season win total for any driver since the 2008 season, he didn’t manage to qualify for the Championship 4.
Now his 2021 season has been the exact opposite of his 2020 season.
He has yet to win, and he opened up the playoffs as the 16th (last) place playoff driver after becoming the 15th of 16 to qualify late in the regular season.
In some respect, you have to imagine that his finish to last season and the fact that he went cold at the wrong time should only reinforce the fact that even a winless 2021 regular season could still lead to a championship if he gets hot at the right time; just look at what Tony Stewart did in 2011.
However, Harvick isn’t really interested in last year — or even last week.
“I don’t really think about last week, let alone last year,” he told Beyond the Flag. “For me, it’s a single-handed, one-week approach on what you’re focused on and what you think about. I don’t have the mental capacity to think about what might’ve happened last week, let alone what might’ve happened last year.”
He likes to keep it simple, which is probably the best way to approach a playoff system that carries a “win and in” format throughout each round.
“So there’s really no scenario in my mind that says, ‘It might be this,’ or ‘It might be that,'” he continued. “It’s, ‘We’re going to do this, we’re going to look at this, I’m going to look at this information, I’m going to prepare like this,’ and we’re going to go the race track and then we’re going to start the race and then you’re going to try to adjust on the car and you’re going to try to do all the little things right and do exactly what we would do on a week to week basis.
“There’s really no thought process for me that thinks about other things other than this week and this car and this track, so I keep it pretty simple.”
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And this week, WynnBET lists Harvick’s odds at +900 to win tonight’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, which is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. If you have yet to begin your free trial of FuboTV, now is a great time to do so!