Angry Kevin Harvick has ‘fun’ in the desert
Three-wide racing, slapping his rear windshield and a third straight victory defined an angry Kevin Harvick’s “fun” Sunday in Phoenix.
In case NASCAR hasn’t realized it yet, Kevin Harvick has put everyone on notice. The former Cup Series champion is angry, and he’s fueling his anger by having fun and picking up victories.
To say Harvick hasn’t been happy would be an understatement. He was penalized after his victory last week at Las Vegas due to the brace on his rear windshield being broken and a steel side skirt on his car.
After he pulled out his third straight victory at ISM Raceway, Harvick let loose and had a most fitting celebration. As he climbed out of the No. 4 car, the driver of the Jimmy John’s Stewart-Haas Ford, decided to give a slap to his rear windshield.
After the race, Harvick explained that being mad gave him the motivation he needed to win, but that he also had fun racing in a trio with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin for the victory.
“After, I guess it was the second stage, first stage, I don’t remember which one, when you’ve got Kyle Busch sticking his finger out the window with his thumb up, talking and having fun sending messages on the radio, you know everyone’s having fun,” Harvick said.
“I could tell that myself, Kyle and Denny and the No. 9, it seemed like those were going to be the guys that it came down to.” Harvick continued. “The racetrack opened up and got a couple of grooves. I just told Tony [Stewart] I never could get to a point to where I felt like I could slide up like I did to the No. 9 and the No. 11. It wound up costing me a bunch of time, and Kyle wound up getting by us.”
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Harvick went on to explain that after the past week, it was all the motivation that he along with his team needed to bring home a third win.
“Just really proud of everybody,” he said. “After everything this week, everybody just came here and just mad, chip on their shoulder wanting to do exactly what we did today.”
The way his team handled adversity is exactly what Harvick wants to see from his Stewart-Haas team.
“That’s the type of determination and grit that you want in a race team,” he said. “There’s nothing better to be a part of than something like that. Actions speak a whole lot louder than the words that I can say this week.”
In the end, Harvick pulling into Victory Lane was to him the biggest point he could get across to everyone.
“Parking that thing in victory lane is the most powerful message that you can send and says the most about our organization and team,” Harvick said. “To have all four cars in the top 10 is something that I have never been a part of.”
For the third straight week, Harvick entered Victory Lane in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He’s the first driver to do so since Joey Logano accomplished the feat in 2015. Age isn’t slowing him down either, as he became the first driver over 40 to pull off the feat since 1991. The race also ended up being his ninth victory in Phoenix.