Kevin Harvick Stars In “The Closer”

Kevin Harvick Stars In “The Closer”
Your eyes suggest it. The numbers prove it.
Kevin Harvick has morphed into the ultimate closer in 2011, charging to the lead whenever the checkered flag is in sight.
His uncanny ability to close first became apparent at Auto Club Speedway, when Harvick hunted down Jimmie Johnson – himself, a tremendous closer – on the final lap.
Harvick repeated the feat, winning again at Martinsville after reeling in Dale Earnhardt Jr. and taking the lead for good with four laps to go.
The statistics show that, yes, Harvick is indeed the man at the end of races. He ranks second in NASCAR’s “Closer” statistic, a Loop Data category measuring positions gained and lost in the final 10% of races. Harvick has gained 22 spots in the final 10%, all of them coming in the last four races.
A breakdown…
Daytona – Harvick ran only 22 laps (engine), so he started the final 10% in 42nd, and remained there.
Phoenix – Another status-quo race in terms of closing. With 32 laps to go, Harvick was in fourth – and finished in fourth.
Las Vegas – With 27 to go, Harvick was 21st. He finished 17th, a pickup of four spots.
Bristol – Though he didn’t get the “closer” notoriety that he did at Auto Club Speedway and Martinsville, Bristol was where it started. With 50 laps remaining, Harvick started rapidly clicking off spots, marching from 16th to sixth, a “Closer” number of +10.
Auto Club Speedway – With 20 to go, Harvick was sixth. A Turn 3 pass of Johnson gave Harvick the victory.
Martinsville – With 50 laps remaining, Harvick was fourth. The eventual win got him three Closer positions.
Harvick now heads to Texas for the first-ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series night race at the 1.5-mile track. A third consecutive win would be the first since Jimmie Johnson won four in a row in 2007.
No Flukes: Texas Winners List , Big Names All
Texas’ wins list reads like the 2030 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee list.
A quick By the Numbers …
16 – Number of different winners in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Texas.
14 – Number of winners who have made at least one Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
2 – Only two Texas race winners haven’t earned a Chase berth: Terry Labonte and Dale Jarrett. But both won championships (Labonte in 1984, ’96; Jarrett in 1999) prior to the Chase’s inception in 2004.
7 – Texas race winners who have won series championships: Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jarrett and Labonte.
Records Fall As Competition Remains Balanced
Competition-wise, the first six races have offered storylines galore. A few…
• Lead change records have fallen in three of the six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races (Daytona, Phoenix and, most recently, Martinsville). The record for lead changes at Texas is 33, set last November.
• There has been an average of 13 leaders per race, the most after six races in series history.
• There has been an average of 31.5 lead changes per race, the most after six races in series history.
• The average margin of victory is under one second: .720 seconds.
• Prior to Kevin Harvick’s win at Martinsville – his second consecutive victory – there were five different winners in the first five races for the first time since 2005.
• Last year’s two top race winners – Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson – remain winless.
• Seven different teams make up the top seven in the points standings.
• The top-four drivers in the standings all run different manufacturers.
Hamlin Down; Earnhardt Up
Two marquee names are going in two different directions.
First, Denny Hamlin. Hamlin shouldn’t be seen in panic mode, not yet anyway – at least statistically speaking.
Hamlin, who narrowly missed ending Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship streak a year ago, hasn’t come close to matching his 2011 performance. In fact, Hamlin sits 19th in the standings, trailing leader and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch by the equivalent of nearly two races’ worth of points. Hamlin sits 74 points behind Busch.
There’s optimism, however, as the scene shifts to Texas:
• His Martinsville finish, 12th, was deceiving in that Hamlin’s Driver Rating of 118.7 was second only to Busch, who finished third.
• Hamlin swept both races at Texas Motor Speedway including last November’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event. His Driver Rating of 99.5 at Texas ranks fifth.
• His 2011 stats – average finish of 20.5; three finishes outside the top 20 – are marginally better than 2006 when Hamlin recovered quite nicely from 23rd after six races to rank third in final points.
“It’s disappointing for sure,” he said of the Martinsville results that ended a streak of three consecutive victories at the track. “We’re going to another good track next week for us. We have to get rolling. We have to get some good, solid finishes. At this point, I’m just happy we finished the race being everything that’s going on. We’re making slow and steady progress I guess.”
Then there’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. who at Martinsville came four laps short of snapping a 98-race winless drought.
Earnhardt finished second, his best finish since the 2010 Daytona 500. The result launched him to eighth in points, his highest spot since after Talladega in April of last season.
On April 2, 2000 at Texas, in just his 12th start, Earnhardt won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Since then, it has been mostly a struggle at Texas for Earnhardt. Four of his last five finishes have been outside the top 10.
Texas Natives Labonte, Starr Head Home
Texas has produced a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions but Lone Star natives have just a single victory in their home state – Terry Labonte’s 1999 triumph at Texas Motor Speedway.
Bobby Labonte will be making his 21st NASCAR Sprint Cup start at the 1.5-mile speedway. David Starr, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series favorite in his home state, will be making his debut along with Leavine Fenton Racing owners Bob Leavine and Lance Fenton, both from Tyler, Texas.
Labonte obviously would like to do a family two-step in Ft. Worth. He’s come close before, winning a pair of Coors Light Poles and finishing third in three of his first four starts at Texas Motor Speedway. While the Corpus Christi native’s recent efforts haven’t been spectacular, Labonte’s freshman year with JTG
Daugherty Racing has shown promise.
The 46-year-old former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion ranked among the top 10 in points following the 2011 season’s first two races.
.Starr, likewise, has been stymied at Texas Motor Speedway where he has been an instructor at his family’s driving school in addition to competing in 30 NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck events. Like Labonte, the Houston native’s best performances have been a trio of thirds, all in trucks.
“Words can’t describe how big this is. Ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to attempt to qualify for a Cup race,” said Starr, who’ll also compete in Friday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. “The ultimate dream is to race in the biggest series in the world, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. I can’t make the word be big enough to what it means. I’m just honored, proud, and blessed to have the opportunity to do that with good equipment.”
.Jeff Burton will become the ninth driver to start 900 NASCAR national series races on Sunday. The breakdown thus far: 589 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, 306 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, four in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. … If Kyle Busch leads 117 laps this weekend, he will reach 20,000 in his NASCAR national series career. He can reach the milestone in the NASCAR Nationwide race on Friday, which is scheduled for 200 laps. … Roush Fenway Racing is the all-time leader in wins at Texas, with seven. RFR driver Matt Kenseth was a guest on this week’s NASCAR national teleconference. Click here to listen to the teleconference. … The Miss Sprint Cup representatives will be sporting a different look at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Kim Coon and Paige Duke will trade in their traditional black firesuits for green ones for this weekend’s Samsung Mobile 500 and again in two weeks for the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The change is to help raise awareness of Sprint’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, including “Focus on Driving” and green sustainability.