NASCAR Cup Series

Oh 'Happy' Day? Harvick in good spot to notch first Sprint Cup title

Published Nov. 14, 2014 9:04 a.m. ET

Larry McReynolds

So here we are. We started in February and now we are in November with one race to go Sunday and four drivers with a chance to be our 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. If you simply look at the numbers, then you have to believe the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick and the No. 22 of Joey Logano are the favorites.

With that said, though, as we all know, anything can happen and usually does in the course of a race. It's four drivers on equal ground going at each other head to head-to-head-to-head. There are no bonus points for leading a lap. There are no bonus points for leading the most laps. It simply comes down to whom out-performs whom on Sunday among these four drivers.

Yes, there will be 39 other competitors out there on Sunday, but these four drivers will be in a race of their own. Could it come down to someone having a flat tire late in the race? Could the championship hang on a pit road speeding penalty? I'll be honest: Since the Chase was introduced in 2004, I've never seen as many mistakes made by the Chase drivers or their teams as I've seen in these first nine Chase races. The list of issues is a long as my arm.

Looking at the four drivers and if they don't beat themselves, I see Kevin Harvick winning the championship. Back in December at the Charlotte test in his first time behind the wheel of a Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy, they were in a league of their own. Quite honestly, speed-wise they have been there almost the entire season. It's only mistakes and mechanical issues that have kept Harvick from having eight or nine wins this season.

Don't take your eye off Joey Logano, however. Can Kevin handle the mental strain a little better than Joey? The answer has to be probably yes. Kevin has come close before in the Sprint Cup Series, and is a two-time Nationwide champion, so he's been there under the championship microscope. This will be Joey's first time under that kind of pressure.

Again, though, we are talking about a race, and obviously I know from painful experience back in 1992 how others on the racetrack who have nothing to do with the championship can affect the outcome of the overall winner. So with that said, I probably could do just as well putting all four names in a hat and picking one out to be our champion.

I love the four drivers that we have. We know for a fact that one of them is going to be a first-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. We've got four different organizations that have no alliances among themselves. We have two Chevrolets, a Ford and a Toyota in the mix. You also have two crew chiefs who are in their very first Chase.

The storylines that lie within these four drivers and teams are endless. Any of the four will be a great ambassador for our sport and represent us well.

VIDEO: Kevin Harvick talks during Championship 4 Media Day