NASCAR Cup Series

Kevin Harvick finishes second to Jimmie Johnson -- again

Published May. 31, 2015 6:34 p.m. ET

foxsports

With Jimmie Johnson scoring the win in Sunday's FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks, that only meant one thing: Kevin Harvick finished second.

Harvick has finished second to Johnson in each of the Hendrick Motorsports driver's four victories this season, and that streak extends back to Johnson's win at Texas Motor Speedway at the end of the 2014 season.

Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway was no different.

Starting from the sixth spot, Harvick had a strong car for the majority of the 405-lap event, with the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet coming on best in the second half of the race.

However, the defending series champion struggled with a tight race car on restarts and was forced to deal with a broken motor in the in-car track bar adjuster.

Rolling off fourth on the final green-white-checkered restart, Harvick was able to clear Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne, but was unable to do anything with Johnson on the final laps.

"We just struggled at the end of the race on restarts, really all day on the restarts," Harvick said.

"Once the track bar broke, we were pretty much in a box and just kind of had to hold on for the first 25 laps and if we weren't in the front then we struggled to just maintain what we had," he said. "All in all, everybody did a great job, and I think when you look at Dover it's been a good racetrack for us. We've led laps and just haven't quite finished it yet, but a good, solid day."

Through the first 13 races of the year, Harvick has two wins and an average finish of 6.1. Sunday's runner-up finished marked the ninth top-two finish of the 2015 season.

Since scoring his second-straight win of the season at Phoenix International Raceway, Harvick has finished second every other race.

In the 49 races since the start of the 2014 season, Harvick has finished first or second a total of 20 times.

Crew chief Rodney Childers obviously was not happy with the runner-up finish, which he expressed on Twitter. But he was pleased with the team's effort throughout the day.

Never been so pissed off to finish 2nd.. But great job by @KevinHarvick and all of the guys on the @ditech @TeamChevy today. Great effort.
— Rodney Childers (@RodneyChilders4) May 31, 2015