King of Phoenix preps for memorable weekend – Nascar

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AVONDALE, Ariz. — It’s set to be a memorable weekend for 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick here at Phoenix International Raceway.

Friday, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was reminded it was the 15-year anniversary of his first NASCAR premier series victory — the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

On Sunday, he will make his 500th consecutive series start, a feat accomplished only by 14 others throughout the history of NASCAR.

He will also be looking to score his eighth career win at the 1-mile track, joining such legendary figures as … well, actually no one.

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When it comes to PIR, Harvick has no current equals. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson once won three consecutive races and four out of five at PIR. Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. won two in a row (2003-04), then returning to the winner’s circle here last fall.

Jeff Gordon, the four-time series champion now working the TV booth for FOX Sports’ NASCAR coverage, won twice. Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace won once.

“It’s obviously been a great race track for me, personally,” Harvick said Friday morning at PIR. “Really for the last two years at Stewart-Haas Racing, it’s be phenomenal; we’ve won three of the (last) four races, got beat by the rain in the last one.”

Only Johnson has a better driver rating (112.6 vs. 109.9) and average finish (7.7 to 9.3) at PIR.

Harvick, 40, has been successful in spite of a tremendous number of changes. He’s changed teams, the cars have evolved and the racing surface has been altered.

And still he has rolled into town as the driver to beat. Winning four in a row and five of the last seven will result in that sort of thing.

“I think there are still a lot of the same characteristics of the old track, especially on entry into Turn 1 and the way that you go through Turns 3 and 4 and how you use the brakes and apply the pressure to the pedal,” Harvick said. “If they ever move those cones going into the corner, I’m in deep crap — I won’t know where to let off.”

The similarities with tracks out west that he grew up racing — flatter, shorter layouts — plays into his success as well, he said, requiring little change in how he attacks each one.

This year, there’s change yet again, with NASCAR’s 2016 rules package stripping away downforce and sending crew chiefs and engineers scurrying to adapt.

“It’s definitely going to be different (at PIR),” Harvick said. “I think the temperature (90 degrees Friday, but in the 70s by Sunday’s race) is exactly what everybody would want to see with the rules package … the low downforce, the softer tire. Hot weather should make for some ill handling cars to drive. I think as drivers and as a sport, that is really what we are all looking for.”

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Third in points through the season’s first three races, Harvick has finishes of fourth, sixth and seventh. He’s finished inside the top-10 in his last seven starts, dating back to last season, but says recent outings haven’t been as solid as they might have appeared.

“We have had a disastrous last two weeks in all honesty,” he said, recalling a bout with a stomach virus last week and the absence of a race engineer the week before.

“We have just had a lot of circumstances. We have got to get everybody healthy and get everybody in sync, but the cars have been plenty fast. We just hadn’t been able to get everything out of them just for one reason or another over the last two weeks.”

Sunday’s Good Sam 500 is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. ET start (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).