SHR Reminisces Kevin Harvick’s Championship Seize Amid NASCAR’s Major Shake-Up Threatening Elusive Dream

Past glorious moments come to mind amid crumbling dreams. As Stewart-Haas Racing proceeds to the last few races of its 16-year journey, the team has a treasure trove of memories to look back upon. But among its 70 Cup Series race victories, one stands out because of a special achievement. 2014 was the first season Kevin Harvick joined Tony Stewart’s fold, and he immediately oozed gold.

The former Richard Childress Racing driver had 23 wins coming into 2014. However, the Bill France Cup still eluded his grasp. On top of that, NASCAR’s new innovation hung over his penultimate goal like a gray cloud. However, Kevin Harvick and his crew chief, Rodney Childers, teamed up to defeat the toughest odds.

A tribute to Kevin Harvick’s victory

The driver-crew chief duo under a stellar team banner carved out the perfect recipe for success. Kevin Harvick’s camaraderie with Rodney Childers matched no other, as the two won four races before the penultimate one. However, NASCAR made their path to the championship no less thorny. 2014 marked the first year when the sanctioning body introduced the Chase format. This elimination system pushed off drivers in four rounds until the last round saw a face-off between the most stellar racers. Harvick faced this cutthroat challenge confidently, as he admitted then: “I think this Chase is about the best thing that has happened to this sport over the last decade.”

Now as SHR is all set to wrap up its dazzling NASCAR story, one last tribute is mandatory. As the 2024 Cup Series drivers head to Homestead-Miami Speedway, SHR recalled the time when Kevin Harvick won at the same track 10 years ago.

An Instagram reel recollected The Closer’s championship-sealing race. “Harvick would start the race from 5th and quickly move his way to the top of the leaderboard. Early on, Jeff Gordon and Harvick would battle for the lead, both trying to show themselves as favorites for the win. Kevin ran in the top five for a majority of the early stages of the race.” 

A crucial caution fell at the most opportune moment for Kevin Harvick. Debris dripped from the No. 32 Ford of Blake Koch on lap 263, which brought out the 13th caution of the day. Then Harvick beat Ryan Newman with four fresh tires. “Caution after caution plagued the race, but none fell at a more important time than with 19 laps to go. Harvick along with Ryan Newman and Joey Logano came down pit road for their final stop…On the restart, Harvick stormed to the front, taking the lead with less than 10 laps to go.” 

And Harvick’s superior performance made his rival’s jaws drop as well.

Championship rival tipped his hat

In 2014, tensions were high among drivers. The new elimination playoff format was challenging to the core, as even winless drivers could advance into the final round. In the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Kevin Harvick found himself challenged even after winning four times and leading 2,137 laps throughout the season. His opponent was Ryan Newman, a driver who was winless with 41 laps led by a single point. On the final restart against Harvick, Newman contemplated the sort of all-or-nothing move he had used a week earlier. That was against Kyle Larson to edge Jeff Gordon by one point for the final position in the Championship 4 Round.

Newman thought of a better strategy: “I just got down underneath him and he was close enough to me, took some of the air away from me. I could have kept it wide open and washed up into him.” However, he had to bow down to Kevin Harvick’s flawless run. “If we were close enough on the last lap, it might have been a different game, but I wasn’t. I slipped off of Turn 4 coming to the white, and at that point it was pretty much over. I really was hoping he would slip a tire, blow a motor, something like that. That was our only hope. All those things go through your mind, but I had a pretty good run and cut down to the bottom and just ran out of racetrack, ran out of room, and he had the air—he had the line.”

Evidently, Kevin Harvick’s 2014 Homestead homerun was a memory to cherish. Even though SHR will shutter soon, memories like this will never fade.