Kevin Harvick can thank Danica Patrick for keeping title hopes alive

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Kevin Harvick can thank Danica Patrick for keeping title hopes alive

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Lost amid the controversy that surrounded the finish of Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was the debt of gratitude Kevin Harvick owes to Danica Patrick.

On Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Harvick asserted he didn’t steer his No. 4 Chevrolet into the No. 6 Ford of Trevor Bayne and deliberately cause the wreck that ended the race under caution.

Harvick’s detractors, among them Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman—all of whom were eliminated from the Chase at Talladega—opined otherwise after the race, insisting Harvick caused the multicar crash that ultimately kept his hopes for a second straight title alive.

If truth be told, however, Harvick was in position to salvage a finish sufficient to keep him in the Chase because of the efforts of a Stewart-Haas teammate who is not part of the 10-race playoff—namely Patrick.

With Harvick’s engine down on power and failing, Patrick provided the drafting help her teammate needed to stay close enough to the front to score the points necessary to advance to the Eliminator Round.

“I was fortunate to have the 10 (Patrick) there to help,” Harvick said on Tuesday, his voice hoarse from a lingering cold. “She kept me in the pack. And then we were able to get ourselves situated in the middle of the pack. If I’d have gotten to the back of the pack, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the pack.

“But we got ourselves situated in the middle of the pack and were able to make ground and maintain what we needed to.”

Even though he survived the Contender Round with a 15th-place finish, Harvick considered himself lucky to advance, given the adversity he has faced in the first six events of the Chase.

“We’ve had a really sloppy six weeks, and we’re very fortunate to be sitting here today,” Harvick said. “Our cars have had plenty of speed, but we had the engine problem this week (at Talladega), a transmission problem the week before, a pit penalty before that.

“Charlotte was OK, Dover was OK, and then just a couple of mistakes and things happening in the first couple of weeks. … We were very fortunate that it played out with those cautions (at the end of the race), ’cause if there were no cautions, who knows how it would have turned out.”

As to the naysayers, Harvick said he doesn’t pay attention to the noise. And that applies to Hamlin, who was perhaps most strident in his post-race criticism.

“Denny’s a very emotional person,” Harvick said. “I would consider Denny a fair acquaintance. I don’t consider too many of ’em my friends, because we get in situations like this. He’s a very opinionated person. He’s going to stand behind what he believes—and that’s fair.

“I don’t think anybody can knock him for that. I’m not going to sit here and throw stones, because I’ve been mad at situations. … I was mad at a situation with him last week.”

IS REVENGE ON KENSETH’S MIND AS CHASE WINDS DOWN

Kyle Busch rallied at Talladega and took advantage of others’ misfortunes to advance to the Chase’s Eliminator Round.

But Busch suggested Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth, who was ousted from the Chase at Talladega, might still have a score to settle with Joey Logano.

It was contact from Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford that spun Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota Oct. 18 at Kansas Speedway—while Kenseth was leading with five laps left in the Hollywood Casino 400—thereby depriving Kenseth of his best chance to advance in the Chase with a victory.

Busch thinks Logano, who swept all three races in the Contender Round, might have reason to look over his shoulder in the next few weeks.

“Joey Logano didn’t have to do anything to Matt Kenseth, except he knew Matt Kenseth was going to be a strong competitor for the championship at Homestead, so he eliminated him,” Busch said. “Now he’s going to have to worry about that all the way to Homestead.”

Asked whether that meant payback might be coming at Martinsville on Sunday, Busch replied, “I don’t know if it’s Martinsville, if it’s Texas, if it’s Phoenix, if it’s Homestead—I don’t know.”

KESELOWSKI RELISHING CLEAN SLATE FOR ELIMINATOR ROUND

Surviving Talladega and advancing to the third round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has rejuvenated Brad Keselowski, who likes his chances at the three tracks in the Eliminator Round.

“I’m really excited by the challenge at hand,” Keselowski said. “It feels like the season has started over. I feel literally coming into Martinsville like I’m going to Daytona for the 500, because nothing else that’s happened before now really matters.

“To me, there is no momentum. It’s what you make out of these next three or four races.”

Keselowski believes he has an excellent chance to advance to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, though he’d like to improve his performance at Texas Motor Speedway, the second track in the Eliminator Round.

“I think this bracket—knock on wood over here—I think it’s going to be our best bracket yet,” Keselowski said on Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “We’ve run well at the short tracks this year. Finished second at Martinsville in the spring.

“I think at Phoenix we finished fourth or fifth the last three times we’ve been there (actually third, fourth and sixth), and then we tested and had a great test and found a little more speed. I’m thrilled to be going back to those tracks. I think we’re going to have great cars for those races.

“I look at Texas as a track where we haven’t been where we want to be with the 2 car, but my teammate, Joey Logano, has been really fast. So we know we have the potential, so we’ve just got to find it, and we’re going to do that by going to work.”

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