"We'll Be Back": Kevin Harvick ends debut season with Ford third in the final points s
A hole on the nose of Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Jimmy John's Ford put a damper on his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title hopes, finishing 4th in Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead.
The championship effort by Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Jimmy John's Ford is what he'll take away from his fourth place effort in Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.
Harvick kept pace with his Championship 4 contenders, but was the only title contender who didn't led a lap at one of his strongest tracks in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series calendar.
His bid of his second title took a hit after patching a hole when making a scheduled stop with 67 laps remaining.
This took place after running over debris when he was running in fourth. After the patch, he lost touch with Kyle Busch and eventual champion Martin Truex, Jr.
Despite coming up short, Harvick was proud of the team effort, wrapping up his debut season with Ford third in the final championship standings.
“I think when you look at it from the inside out and all the work that everybody went through, the preparation that we went through to get to these playoffs was second to none. It was a championship effort. Just came up a little bit short," Harvick said. "Congratulations to Martin. Those guys have been the dominant car all year. To go win the race and make it happen at the end they were able to get their car better and win the championship.”
Harvick said his car got tight after fixing the hole, but a loose run at the end ended his title aspirations.
"We just got really loose and then we got a hole in the nose and started to get tight in, but we got (the patch) fixed. We were pretty good in the next-to-last run and then we were really loose in the last run," Harvick said. "Just to be here was great to have a chance (for the championship). We were in the mix all day, we just didn't quite have what we needed to at the end."
Harvick's wins at Sonoma and Texas was among his highlights in his 2017 campaign. He led 850 laps, the fewest since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 and for the fifth consecutive season, he scored 20+ top-10s with 23, 14 of them being top-5s.
