Which drivers are closest to actually beating Kevin Harvick soon?

We take a stab at identifying which drivers are close to actually giving Kevin Harvick a run for his money.

No one has beaten Kevin Harvick in a non-restrictor plate race yet during the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. It’s getting to the point where even drivers who finish second, like Kyle Busch did in the TicketGuardian 500 last Sunday, are talking about how frustrated they are instead of how well they are running.

If history tells us anything, though, it’s that winning four races in a row is really freaking difficult, and more than that darn near impossible. Someone is going to beat Harvick, probably soon and quite possibly this week at Fontana.

The question is who. The driver who breaks through with the first non-Harvick win is going to find it even sweeter than normal because outrunning the 4 seems like a hopeless proposition at the moment. Using stats, the eye test and just pure gut feeling, here are the drivers who have the best shot at knocking the Freaky Fast Ford off its pedestal soon.

Right there

Kyle Busch

Look, it’s easy to understand why Rowdy is despondent, because finishing second isn’t much fun, and he’s done it two weeks in a row (2017 Kyle Larson is nodding his head in agreement). Still, there’s nothing for the 18 bunch to hang their heads over, because an argument could definitely be made that they had the fastest car at times at Phoenix, which wasn’t the case the previous two weeks. A win is close. Good news, too: Busch won two straight at Fontana earlier this decade.

A half-step back

Martin Truex Jr.

Thanks to Harvick and the bar he set for himself last season, no one is talking about the defending champ getting off to a good start. But Truex is actually ever so slightly better than last year through four races in terms of average finish thanks to three straight top-5s, just without a win to go with it. The 78 isn’t on top of its game, but it’s not far off.

Chase Elliott

Given the trials and tribulations of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, you have to wonder if Elliott is actually being held back by his equipment a little at the moment. Still, were it not for an accident not of his making at Vegas, he’d be looking at three straight top-10 finishes, and he absolutely deserved his third at Phoenix. The only thing is that his next Cup Series win will famously be his first.

Denny Hamlin

Maybe guilty of wanting to dethrone Harvick too badly, because he appeared to use his stuff up in a futile attempt to hold off the 4 and 18. Still, Hamlin looks very fast and already has three finishes of fourth place or better. In the conversation until further notice, though California has historically not been great to him.

Semi-close but will need to step up a tad

Anyone from Team Penske

Don’t look now, but all three Penske drivers are in the top seven in points. They look fast, just not quite fast enough to compete with Harvick for wins yet. Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney won just one race each in 2017, but it would not be a shock if either of them beat Brad K. to the punch to get a victory first. They will need to find another gear they haven’t quite found to do it.

Kyle Larson

To say that this is not what Larson and the Ganassi camp were expecting this year would be a mild understatement. As Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the NASCAR America gang pointed out, you don’t usually see the 42 go around on its own like it did at ISM Raceway, and it’s pretty clear Larson just isn’t as comfortable in his Camaro as he was with his SS at this time last year. He’s just too good to keep struggling for too long.

Next: Harvick says the 10 car was "irrelevant" the last few seasons

Harvick’s own Stewart-Haas Racing teammates

Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola all finished in the top 10 last Sunday, and they’ve got the same equipment Harvick does, so … why not, right? Well, the truth is this trio hasn’t exactly piled up trips to Victory Lane the last few seasons, and while the whole SHR organization is flexing its muscles, that doesn’t mean Happy will have to fend off late race charges from his own teammates. Not yet, anyway.