Gluck: Kevin Harvick proves his clutch ability in the Chase again

LOUDON, N.H. — When NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France revamped the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, he wanted to challenge the notion drivers were already performing at their maximum.

France was tired of drivers telling him — and everyone else — they were already racing as hard as possible and no incentive would make them go faster.

Kevin Harvick is Exhibit A that France was right.

Once again, Harvick has won in the face of adversity and pressure — the latest example coming Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Kevin Harvick wins at New Hampshire, clinches spot in Chase second round

After opening the playoffs with a frustrating 20th-place result at Chicagoland Speedway — thanks to an ill-timed caution that pinned him a lap down — Harvick had already found himself in a difficult spot. But with five laps to go Sunday, Harvick, who hadn’t been at the front all day, passed Matt Kenseth on the final restart and drove himself and his No. 4 team into the next round.

“When you get in these situations, it's fun to be able to succeed,” Harvick said. “It's kind of like an addiction. You just love the rush of being able to be behind and be able to perform and make that happen. It's something that is very gratifying.”

Harvick is certainly getting more comeback experience than he prefers. The scenario was similar to the first round last year, except he didn’t have to wait until the elimination race at Dover International Speedway to save himself with a victory this time.

No other driver and team have taken advantage of the win-and-advance rule like Harvick -— though no one else has found himself backed into a corner as often, either.

“You have to believe that you can win or you're not going to do it,” crew chief Rodney Childers said. “We felt like we brought a good car here and thought we could pull off the victory if we did everything right. It's not always going to be that way, but he definitely steps up to the table, and all my (crew) guys do also, and I think it just works out.”

It certainly seems like Harvick has a knack for rising to the occasion. In 2014, he had to win at Phoenix International Raceway to make the championship race and did so. The next week, he won at Homestead-Miami Speedway to capture his first title — something that would not have happened had he finished second.

The lesson here would be to never count Harvick out, except everyone already knew that. So there’s no surprise Harvick shined in a clutch situation again.

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“It's really the nature of our team,” Harvick said. “You get behind a little bit, and that's something I like because you can motivate yourself and you can motivate everybody around you by your actions and the attitude that you carry to the car on practice days and how you present yourself in the meetings.

“We've just got to keep performing at that level. A lot of times you can talk yourself into being so amped up that you can talk yourself into making mistakes or doing things wrong, and this team has done a great job.”

So now what? It would be nice for Harvick and his team if they had an uneventful round of races. But either way, they should still be considered contenders for another title.

Harvick and Childers seemed to bristle a bit when reporters asked if the No. 4 Chevrolet was capable of taking on the Toyota powerhouses that have dominated the season (and seemed to have Sunday’s race won until Harvick came along). Four Toyotas led 280 of the scheduled 300 laps Sunday, including Kenseth’s 105.

But Harvick and Childers made it clear there’s no need to worry about anyone else after finishing first and second in the championship the last two seasons.

“I think the question is, ‘Can we stop ourselves?’ ” Childers said of the team that swapped two crew members before the Chase began with fellow Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Danica Patrick’s crew after Harvick called them out for poor pit stop performances. “That’s the question. ... It’s up to us to take good cars to the racetrack. It’s up to us to have good pit stops. It’s up to me to make good decisions ... and I think if we do that, we’ll keep advancing as far as we can.”

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck