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Michigan has always been Kevin Harvick’s favorite track. Before winning Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, however, he had stayed out of Victory Lane for 65 races after he last won the Bristol race on September 19th, 2020. Before heading to Michigan, Harvick was even sitting outside the playoffs after he was eliminated a few weeks ago.
Following his latest win, however, Harvick is now fully locked into the 2022 playoffs. His longtime friend and veteran driver, Martin Truex Jr., however, is now off the list, and he’ll have to follow Harvick’s footsteps to get back in.
Harvick's latest win marked Ford's fifth win of the season. Before the win, all Ford drivers combined had the same wins as Chase Elliott, which the Ford director addressed personally. Harvick's manufacturers now have ties to Toyota, which finished second at Michigan.
Harvick was not the only one fascinated with his performance at Michigan. His crew chief, who was calling the shots at the pit box, was also thrilled with their performance. Speaking to the media in a post-race interview, Harvick's crew chief gave his thoughts on the current state of the competition where he cited that at the moment the competition is so tight and everybody has to be perfect. He said:
“Right now you gonna be perfect, and you gonna be perfect on pit roads, you can't have penalties, driver has to do his thing on every single restart, and every single lap. The competition is so tight right now, every body is so close together. Every one is extremely tight.’’
Harvick is NASCAR's 15th different winner of the 2022 season, and now NASCAR is looking for only one other winner in the next three races. But from the look of things, this year's playoffs might accommodate 18 drivers if NASCAR records another three winners.
How Kevin Harvick managed to get to the victory line at Michigan International Speedway
Before racing at Michigan International Speedway, Kevin Harvick had a stressful weekend in Indianapolis the previous weekend, where he ended the day prematurely.
During the Indianapolis event, Kevin Harvick was among the unlucky drivers to start woes on the restart of the second stage, where he got hit in the left rear and went spinning. Harvick swore to retaliate, but it seems he was just joking as he ran a clean race at Michigan.
Harvick ended his 65-race-drought this weekend after a late-race caution in Michigan that allowed him to take race control at the last minute. Kevin Harvick was still among the fastest drivers all day, leading 38 laps and eventually outdueling Bubba Wallace Jr., who finished second.
The 46-year-old driver is now only one win behind Kyle Busch, who has 60 Cup Series wins, making him the top active cup driver with the most wins and Harvick might break Busch's record before the end of the season.
At the moment, he's one of the oldest drivers in the Cup Series, but it seems he might be going for another several seasons before he calls it a career.
