I experienced it firsthand in 1979 and beat myself losing the championship in the last race of the year. So I’ve not only seen but also actually been one of those athletes who had to perform when there was no tomorrow. “I felt like I was in way more control today as the leader. Heartbreaking for sure, but I don’t know what else we can do about it we just have to go on and try to win races and close out the season strong”.
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“Unfortunately, a very simple and cheap axel seal was responsible for us missing the Chase”, Johnson said. I was at Pocono and saw him win there.
Harvick nearly certainly must win Sunday’s AAA 400 (2:30 p.m. EDT on NBCSN) to advance to the Contender Round of the Chase. “You worry about hard racing and something going on”, he said. That No. 4 team was flawless on Sunday.
A few Gordon devotees wrote personal messages to him directly on the finish line when they were allowed there before the race, often including a heart with their expressions of affection. Kevin drove flawlessly. The pit crew performed flawlessly. In addition to winning, Harvick led 355 laps. On lap 248, Harvick returned to the lead and built up another five-second advantage with 130 laps remaining.
“Never quit. That’s why right here, guys”, Harvick said over the radio as he took the checkered flag. Well, the answer to that question was, “Absolutely nothing”.
No pressure, right? Apparently not.
Make no mistake, Dover is tough. “You just can’t take anything for granted”. Getting on pit road is treacherous. The lead did not last long, though, as Hamlin was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Harvick is likely to continue to have fast cars. He said the last thing a driver thinks about is a $5 part ending any championship run. “I was coming down the front stretch and it started vibrating”. There are only three races until the cutoff. He has been in Fight Club mode all year, forced to rally from the depths of the standings after missing the first 11 races following an accident during the Xfinity Series opener a day before the Daytona 500.
Kevin got his first win since Phoenix.
For Harvick, Sunday’s result was sweet because it appeased his harshest critic – his young son Keelan, who took a shine to the Dover winner’s trophy sculpted in the shape of the track’s mascot, Miles the Monster.
NASCAR announced Friday that qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series’ AAA 400 at Dover worldwide Speedway in Delaware has been canceled due to weather problems in the area. “I wasn’t going to bash my head against a concrete wall for a damned loose wheel, so we just came in sooner than later”. His quest for a record-tying seventh championship was over, at the one place no one expected him to have issues at.
The 19 year-old Calgary native fought his way back to what looked like a top-five finish when his truck ran low on fuel. “I don’t think there are a lot of them that can say that”.
Busch’s 2015 season has been far from the status quo. “We’ve got good cars sitting at the shop, but we definitely have had to show more in the past two weeks than what we really wanted to”.
The Monster Mile also chewed up Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard, dropping them out of the next round in the Chase.
Four more drivers will be out after the next three-race segment, which starts Saturday in Concord, N.C.
The Gibbs team tried to seize the advantage by giving Busch four tires to Harvick’s two for the final segment of the race, but it made no difference. We have a Furniture Row vehicle, one Richard Childress Racing auto and two Stewart-Haas cars left as well. The race is scheduled to begin 7pm and will be broadcast by NBC. “That’s what the rest of the season is for us”.
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