It had been almost two years since Kevin Harvick won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series. It’s amazing what can change in two weeks. Harvick won his first race since September 2020 at Michigan International Speedway two weeks ago and then followed it up with another victory this past weekend at Richmond Raceway.
The Richmond victory marked his 60th career win and also made us wonder: Should Harvick be mentioned in the championship conversation? After being a contender for most of his career many thought that the sun had set on his goal of becoming a two-time series champion, but perhaps his back-to-back wins has changed that narrative.
Is Harvick a championship contender in 2022? Michael Nebbia and Stephen Stumpf debate whether or not the 46-year-old driver from Bakersfield, California is on a hot streak or if he has returned to form.
Let’s Pump the Brakes for a Moment
There’s no question.
It’s been an impressive two weeks for Kevin Harvick. He ended his winless streak at Michigan after driving away from the field on the final green flag run. It was a great moment. He then followed it up with an impressive victory at Richmond where he passed the dominant car of Joey Logano and then proceeded to hold off challenges from Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell in the final laps for back-to-back wins and the 60th of his career. It was nice to see Harvick being competitive again.
But even with the wins, it is a stretch to call Harvick a championship contender at this moment.
Harvick has only led 106 laps this season, 93 of which came in his two wins. He had led a combined 13 laps in his first 22 starts this season. Before his winless streak was broken at Michigan, there were questions as to whether Harvick would ever reach victory lane again. To go from possibly never winning again to a title contender in the span of eight days is a huge jump to make. While two wins are impressive, I need to see more from him before I consider him a championship contender.
In addition, Harvick has struggled to find speed at the beginning of races. Harvick’s average start in 24 races this season is 18.6, by far the lowest of his SHR tenure. The slow starts also mean that Harvick rarely grabs stage points; he has only collected 82 on the season, which is tied for the 13th-most through 24 races. For comparison, Chase Elliott leads the way with 211 stage points.
That was on display last weekend at Richmond, as Harvick qualified 13th and fell back to as low as 21st…
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