Kevin Harvick 2014 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: A+
Kevin Harvick spent 13 seasons, 466 races, and 135,115 laps with Richard Childress Racing before joining Stewart-Haas in 2014. That's 23 career wins, 100 top 5's, 209 top 10's, and 6 Poles all with one team.
In 2014 he made a big move and left his long time team behind for his buddy Tony Stewarts team, SHR. Some wondered how the transition would go, myself included, but after watching Matt Kenseth make the move to JGR in 2013 and winning 7 races most thought it was possible for him to run well.
"I think that Harvick will step into SHR just fine to start 2014. The past two seasons he has got off to a good start within the first ten races. In 2013 Harvick wasn't great, but he was very consistent to start the season (other then Daytona) so I don't see any reason that with a good team behind him and good parts his team can start off smooth. I only wonder about the long run at SHR. Will someone feel that they are not getting the best equipment? With the possibility of Danica and Kurt being left on the back burner while Owner and best bud get the best equipment will someone get upset?" -From the 2014 Kevin Harvick Preview
Looking back at my preview its crazy that I brought up equipment. Not that there is any indication Kurt Busch didn't have the stuff that Harvick had, but it was Harvick that ended up running the best with what he had, so was there anything there? I highly doubt it, but its interesting to look back at. I did think he would have a slow start at SHR (full disclosure), but that was anything from the truth.
Harvick stepped right into the #4 and won at Phoenix early on. Actually, Harvick dominated that race and proved how fast he could be with this team. The main issue early on was his bad luck and some bad pit stop mistakes. Harvick didn't find consistency early because it seemed like late in the race something would happen that set him back (Blown tire, slow pit stop, wrong place wrong time).
Going into the Chase that seemed like it would be a major concern, and then news broke that the #4 and #14 pit crews would swap places for the Chase. That worry seemed to go away and so did some of the bad luck.
Havick ended up winning 5 races (tied a career high), 14 top 5's (3rd highest career mark), and 20 top 10's (tied for 3rd in his career). The most interesting thing about the 2014 season is that Harvick put together 8 poles. In his career before SHR he has 6 total career Pole Awards in 13 seasons. So, he was consistently fast all season and seemed to figure out the new qualifying format early and often.
Oh, and Kevin Harvick also became a first time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion in 2014. Not a bad career move for "Happy."
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