NASCAR FLASH! Harvick Leads by 140 with Ten to Go!

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

June 25, 2010 8:49 am UTC 3 Comments

Arguably, the three greatest current NASCAR drivers in the Sprint Cup Series have been trailing a lame-duck driver who doesn’t even wear the “fire suit” in his own family for the whole bloody season.

Jimmie Johnson – winner of 4 consecutive Sprint Cup championships is 140 points back.
Kyle Busch who has won 71 races in the top three NASCAR touring series. He trails our guy by 141.
Denny Hamlin – the new anointed one of NASCAR. Winner of five 2010 Sprint Cup races is 151 back.

Kevin Harvick is the guy they all trail.

Before the 2010 Sprint Cup season started, and well into it in fact, Harvick looked to be a man without a, for sure, future ride. Harvick’s relationship with his boss Richard Childress looked iffy. The talk was mostly about where Happy would end up, and the speculation was not leaning to RCR.

It seems now that the Harvick/Childress partnership will continue. The fact that Kevin has been the Sprint Cup Series points leader for most of the 2010 season seems like it would be a factor. But Harvick himself looks like a different driver to me.

Harvick has been solid everywhere. In a year of other spectacular drivers getting the headlines, he has stayed up front. Harvick won at Talladega and has been relentlessly finishing high in points, avoiding so far the big ones, little ones and pit lane miscues that have cost his pursuers.

Can he hold on? History says that the 140 point lead, with ten races to go to the Chase, will hold up. To actually win the Chase and the Cup, Harvick needs more wins and the bonus points that they bring. He’s capable. So is the team. I just wonder if anyone else thinks so.

Besides Delana.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, jimmie johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, NASCAR, Richard Childress Racing, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Delana Harvick, Race to the Chase, rcr

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

What Do You Call the Pennant Race in NASCAR?

by Charlie Turner

September 7, 2008 7:10 am UTC No Comments

First baseball had its “Pennant Race”. You can take those words – “pennant race” – and put them on your car or in the name of your bar and nobody in a three-piece and cleats is going to show up with a cease and desist order.

NASCAR calls their deal the “Race to the Chase”. That’s not bad I guess, but the France family is pretty protective of their branded properties. Try calling your Swedish Spa, Olga’s Race to the Chase and Brian Francewill own your ass. I need something that I can play with in relative, judicial safety.

But baseball still has its “Pennant Fever”. The suits in Daytona haven’t put the yellow, red, purple and blue striped logo on anything like that yet. So what would the, uh, stock car version of that saying be?

Something like “Road Race Rash”? Nah, no road courses in the Chase. Maybe the “Homestead Trots”.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, NASCAR Bidness, Shut Up and Drive, The France Famliy

Tagged with: NASCAR humor, Race to the Chase

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us