NASCAR Cup Series

Harvick, Kenseth take long road back to the top

Published Mar. 13, 2010 4:58 p.m. ET

foxsports

It’s amazing the difference a few changes within an organization and a couple of months away from the track can make for a team.

Take Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick. Or Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth.

It wasn’t that long ago that these drivers were superstars surprisingly absent from the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Now one is the points leader and the other is right behind him – and they are two of only three drivers with a top-10 finish in every race this season.

Not a bad turnaround for the veteran pair.

While it clearly didn’t happen overnight, it did come in part because their teams and organizations were unafraid to make changes. Both Harvick and Kenseth have different crew chiefs than they did this time a year ago. Both are clearly talented drivers accustomed to winning and contending for championships. And both are back in top form with their teams in the early running this season.

The key difference in their runs lies in their future plans – Harvick is in a contract-signing year; Kenseth inked a multiyear deal in late 2008 that extended him beyond this season.

Both now seem set for another strong run at the title.

Harvick finished runner-up to four-time series champion Jimmie Johnson twice this season. He has consistently been moving up in the closing laps of the race, at Atlanta showcasing his team’s fortitude as he regained a lost lap and moved to a ninth-place finish. Kenseth, meanwhile, was dodging his way to the front for a second-place finish, his best in a young season that has seen him finish no worse than eighth and already undergo a crew chief change.

For Harvick, this is merely a case of netting the results of a lot of work within the RCR ranks. After six years with crew chief Todd Berrier, Harvick got a new crew chief in Gil Martin last April when RCR shifted the entire teams of Harvick and Casey Mears. Late in the season, the driver-crew chief pairing began running consistently better, setting up the possibility of an improved 2010 effort.

This season has been just that. Harvick may not have had an easy run to the points lead – he’s crashed in practices this year and used strategy to gain his final position at Atlanta – but he carries a worst finish of ninth and that pair of second-place finishes into the first break of the season.

Perhaps more importantly, he carries confidence in his team and the strides it is making.

Even he seems a little surprised by just how strong a start they have had this season. While he cautiously eyes the debut of the spoiler, which will replace the wing on the car after the next race, he seems pleased with how the team has been performing this season.

“I know how we finished last year and we expected to start well,” Harvick said at Atlanta. “I don’t think we expected to start by having a chance to win every race so far. But, we expected to start well and do well on the race track. But, you never really know what you are going to get caught up in.”

Harvick can point to drivers who have suffered unexpected engine problems or other failures.

He knows how that feels – and keeps that perspective in the mix as he discusses his performances.

“You just never know,” he says. “Last year, we couldn’t do anything right and if it was going to happen, we were in the wrecks. We were having mechanical failures. Like I said, those things go in cycles and you can’t get too overwhelmed by those things happening because you can only control the things you can control. That is really what I try to focus on. That is what the guys on the team try to focus on – what they can control.

“They can’t control what I do in the car and I can’t control what they do out of the car. We all try to do our jobs. Right now it is all going good and our job is to keep it going that way. That is the hard part about this sport is to keep it going in that direction. You have to stay ahead of that curve because everybody in this garage that is behind is working to catch up just like we were and they all will. So you have to keep pushing ahead to try to maintain those positive performance runs on the race track.”

So far, that is working.

Although the Chase is still 22 races away, teams head into the opening break keeping a closer watch on Harvick and his group.

“The 29, they're definitely on it, without a doubt,” Johnson said after holding Harvick off for the second consecutive race. “You cannot ignore the fact that the 31 (of Jeff Burton), the 33 (of Clint Bowyer) and the 29 have a ton of speed. So they've worked in the right areas over the offseason and have closed the gap up a ton.”

So has Roush Fenway Racing. Kenseth, who shifted from crew chief Drew Blickensderfer to veteran Todd Parrott following the season-opening Daytona 500, has moved to second in the standings after four races. He started well with a pair of wins in 2009, but faltered after that event. This season, he’s altered the trend and is gaining strength as he and Parrott enjoy more races together.

He’s not alone, either, as teammate Greg Biffle is the third driver with four top-10 finishes in the opening run.

For Kenseth, this series of races has shown that the team is making a solid turnaround after a dismal stretch last season left it outside the Chase for the first time since the inception of the format.

Now they have a break in which he says the team can assess what it has done well and what it needs to improve upon in the next segment of races. At this point, though, it’s clear he’s pleased with the start.

“It is awesome,” he says. “I couldn’t be happier with the way the season has started. It feels good to be competitive and it feels like we are headed in the right direction, so it feels good.”

Harvick echoes those sentiments.

So far, he’s been the driver to watch this year. And while he has been the first to point out the numerous races that sit between now and when the Chase field is set, the fact is that he’s the one who has taken command of the early segment. Like Kenseth, he’s a contender already.

And he’s one who knows he can contend with the four-time champion Johnson and his powerful Hendrick team.

“In order to be the best you have to beat the best and that is just kind of where we are right now and I feel like we have run with them now every week and now it’s just time to go out and win a race and make that happen,” he said at Atlanta. “So it’s just for us to go out and keep doing the things we are doing and we are happy that we are running well but we want to win.”