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Kevin Harvick won the 2014 championship after winning the final two races of the 2014 season. But he was far from perfect. Harvick struggled to find consistency most of the regular season. Could blame his pit crew but the black cloud under the 4 team was the reason. Harvick had 5 wins during his championship campaign. Probably should have won close to 12 though. He was dominated week in and week out. Can he back that up in 2015? Probably not.
Intermediate tracks was a strong spot for Harvick in his first year with SHR. He arguably had zero weak tracks. I mean up and down the board he was impressive. Michigan probably stands out because he have 4 straight top 5s in past 4 races. All runners too which is just insane. Bet KH getting tired of 2nd by now. Charlotte another excellent track for Harvick. Over past 2 seasons (4 races) , Harvick have 2 wins and 3 Top 5s for 2.5 average finish. Only finish outside top 5 was an 6th place effort.
Flats were pretty kind to Harvick in 2014. At Pocono , Harvick had finishes of 14th and 2nd. Harvick was better then his 14th place finish. Believe he lost a lap due having to pit and never got back to the front. In both Pocono races , SHR cars were outstanding performance wise. I remember because how good Busch and Stewart were throughout that first Pocono.
At New Hampshire , Harvick had mix results last season. The first race. He was running top 5 before running empty on fuel and finished 30th. The second race however Harvick finished 3rd after leading 104 laps earlier in the race. Will be interesting to see how he does in 2015 at the magic mile.
Phoenix is arguably Harvick best track. Nobody been better since the repave. They should rename it Harvick Raceway. In past 3 races, Harvick have 3 wins and 146.9 driver rating. Just ridiculous. Any driver rating over 140 for 3 race stench is insane. In fact in 7 races since repave , Harvick have 4 wins and 2nd place finish. He have more wins then the field combined. I do feel like as more races at Phoenix under this surface , the less dominated Harvick will become. Before the repave Jimmie Johnson was king.
Indianapolis always been a good track for Harvick but never great. That changed in 2014 Harvick. Not surprise by that though. Last season Harvick started on the pole and finished. In that race he led 12 laps and held an 114.3 driver rating. The change to SHR did wonders for Kevin Harvick.
At short tracks in 2014 , Harvick had his up and downs. At Richmond Harvick was impressive. Had finishes of 5th and 11th. In those races , Harvick had an combine 113.2 driver rating which backs up his performance. Also led 17 and 23 laps in those races. Overall not terrible. But not one of top tracks from last season which is saying something.
At Martinsville , Harvick had mix results. In the spring Harvick finish 7th after leading 1 lap. In the fall Harvick finished 33rd and 43 laps off the pace. From career standpoint Martinsville definitely not an great track overall. In 27 starts , Harvick have 1 win and 16.4 average finish. 4th worst track of 23 in terms of average finish.
At Bristol , Harvick have had bad luck lately despite being fast. Over past 3 races , 2 of them have resulted in outside top 30. Last summer was a good race for Harvick though. Started on the pole and finished 11th. Believe he caused Denny Hamlin to wreck into Dale Jr though which led to an Hans device being thrown at his car. So not exactly incident free. Don't wanna anger Junior Nation.
Road Courses I am on the fence about. Kinda feel like he have the potential but the results haven't been there. Last season he was pretty overall. At Sonoma he had the best car. But around lap 85 , he was involved in a incident caused by Jamie Mac sending an flat tire Bowyer spinning. Which led Harvick to getting damaged. Never truly recovered unfortunately. At Watkins Glenn Harvick had a really strange start. Had to pit within the first 5 laps because an bean bag were left in his car. Was able to rebound to an 7th place finish.
Plate tracks are difficult to predict for Harvick. He been hit or miss a lot lately. I feel like it could go either way for him. In 2014 he had mix results. Usually that how it goes for him. Logically its should continue in the 2015 season. From career standpoint that seems to be the theme as well. Take your chances with him. Even though I believe there better places to use him likely.
I believe Harvick will have another awesome season with SHR. Hard to see him backing it up with another championship. 2015 rule package may put him and the 4 team back with everyone else on a performance level. Or it may not. History says it will. With today's ever changing packages , it hard to find an advantage and keep it. You can use Harvick pretty much anywhere. I would suggest using him on Intermediate tracks the most though.
Twitter - @MattAleza