Denny Hamlin won the race at Martinsville. Jimmie Johnson watched his point lead shrink to six points; the driver to watch is Kevin Harvick.
Harvick was leading late in the race at Martinsville when Hamlin ran him down. Harvick finished third and gained on Johnson.
Harvick and his team knew this race on Sunday was very important. This past week owner Richard Childress swapped crew members out from Clint Bowyer pit crew.
The move was to improve Harvick’s pit stops that have been a weakness at times this season.
Harvick needed to finish in front of Johnson and Hamlin; one for two is not bad. After the race Harvick spoke about just that.
“Those guys on pit road were just awesome today and really kept us up and in front and in the race. And that's what we've got to do. We kept the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) behind us and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) in sight and what everybody said was a two-horse race and we were right there in the middle of it. So, it's a lot of fun. Right now we've got four more weeks. I'm looking forward to Talladega and just racing hard."
Harvick has quietly kept himself right on the tails of Johnson and Hamlin. While most have crowned this a two man race, Harvick is more than ready to prove them wrong.
Talladega is as good as place as any for him to do it. The unpredictability of Talladega could very well play right into Harvick’s hands.
Anything can happen and if Johnson or Hamlin gets caught up in a wreck and Harvick just finishes the race, Harvick could very well make up even more ground on the two.
Harvick win here in April really jumpstarted their season. He has four top five finishes and eight top 10’s.
Should Harvick play it safe on Sunday? Should he run back in the pack and make his move late in the race? Or should he run up front?
At Talladega nowhere is really safe in regards to avoiding the big one. It takes one persons mistake that could wipe out 10 cars.
You could be running deep in the pack but these wrecks happen fast and there is nowhere to go once they start wrecking.
If he can once again gain points on Hamlin and Johnson this week, Harvick is in the best position heading to Texas next week.
First he needs to survive Talladega if he does then the Johnson and Hamlin better start looking over their shoulder as Harvick could be the one to win the title.
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