Kevin Harvick heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend seeking his first Sprint Cup win at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. It’s one of only nine racetracks on the Sprint Cup circuit where the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has never won, but he certainly has momentum on his side thanks to a dominating win at Phoenix International Raceway last weekend in just his second points-paying race start with SHR.
There’s something else Harvick is seeking at Las Vegas, and that’s a seat at the head table for the 2014 banquet. Harvick’s early win virtually guarantees his No. 4 team a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. While there’s still plenty of racing to be done between now and Nov. 16, when the championship is decided at Homestead-Miami Speedway, there’s a bit of pressure that’s relieved for the Bakersfield, Calif., native. Knowing he’s likely punched his ticket into the postseason, Harvick and his Rodney Childers-led crew can now race aggressively for additional wins.
And that all starts this weekend, when the 24-time Sprint Cup Series race winner will look to score back-to-back victories for the third time in his career.
In 13 Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas, Harvick has three top-five finishes, five top-10s and has led 58 laps. While he’s yet to find his way to victory lane there, it has been a stout venue for Harvick, who recorded a runner-up finish there in 2010. His average finishing position of 12.7 ranks Las Vegas sixth-best among active tracks for the 38-year-old driver. While he has not recorded a Sprint Cup win at the racetrack, he does have two wins in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, which came in 2004 and 2010.
And in loop-data statistics, Harvick leads all drivers in the category of positions improved in the last 10 percent of laps in each race, ranks sixth in average running position and green-flag passes, and seventh in the number of laps spent running in the top-15. Harvick’s average driver rating of 94.8 ranks him eighth-best among all drivers at Las Vegas.
Optimism is high for the driver of the Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, knowing that Las Vegas has been a strong racetrack for SHR in recent years, as well. Teammate and team co-owner Tony Stewart claimed the checkered flag there in 2012.
So while Harvick will be focused on the task at hand for the year’s first visit to Las Vegas – winning Sunday’s Kobalt 400 – he’ll also be keeping an eye on the big picture, and that’s making a second trip to Las Vegas for December’s Sprint Cup banquet, when he hopes to take his seat at the head table for the first time in his career.
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