Will Harvick/Johnson dominance continue?

More than seven months ago, Joey Logano took the checkered in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

That was the last time a driver other than Kevin Harvick or Jimmie Johnson won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points race at a 1 1/2-mile intermediate speedway.

Harvick won at Charlotte on Oct. 11. Johnson followed with a victory at Texas on Nov. 2, and Harvick locked up his first series championship when he triumphed at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 16.

A week after Johnson won the first open-motor race of the 2015 season at Atlanta, Harvick took the checkered flag at Las Vegas. Johnson followed with wins at Texas in April and Kansas on May 8.

Do the math. That’s seven straight races on 1 1/2-mile tracks won by Harvick or Johnson.

True, Denny Hamlin won last Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, holding off Harvick during the final 10 laps, but that event didn’t count in the standings. Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 does, and given the recent results, there’s no reason not to consider Harvick and Johnson the co-favorites.

“I hope that we’re on the winning side of it,” Harvick said Thursday. “I think, as you look at our strengths as the No. 4 team and how we ran last week and the way (teammate) Kurt (Busch) ran last week, I think from a Stewart-Haas standpoint, we feel really good about coming into the week and where we are with things. I feel like hopefully we’ve made ourselves better than what we were last week.

“You just never know, obviously. As you look at the results, the 1.5-mile tracks have been really good for us. This track in general, for the No. 4 team in general, has been good since really all last year. … This is an important race as far as ones that you circle on the calendar. The Coke 600 is definitely one of those you want to win.

“I think (crew chief) Rodney (Childers) and the team guys want to win it, too. You just never know what’s going to happen, but you expect to be competitive and hopefully run up front.”