Freaky Fast to Freakin Frustrated: "I'm Tired Of Being A Cheerleader"
With the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup beginning in two weeks, Harvick says something has to change.
"I'm over being a cheerleader," he said after the race. "Those guys get paid a lot of money to perform on pit road. Cheerleading hasn't been working so you have to get after them on pit road and do your job."
The most damaging stop came at lap 282 when the Stewart-Haas driver -- who led five times during the 367-lap event -- entered pit road with the lead and left 12th due to a faulty air gun that thwarted the No. 4 team for the rest of the night. Despite the setbacks, Harvick put himself in contention for the win, battling with Martin Truex Jr. in the final laps -- but missed the checkered flag by .607 seconds.
It's just the same old thing," Harvick said. "You get in position where you bring a dominant car. The guys in the shop and the guys in the garage are doing a great job, and the guys on pit road are doing a terrible job. You get in a position to win races, and they continually step on their toes and don't make it happen. You're not going to win races like that.
Here is a lap by lap breakdown of Harvick's gains on the night - and his losses:
Start: Harvick gets a good start. Truex up to P6.
Lap 8 - Harvick has opened a one-second lead on Keselowski.
Lap 16 - Harvick about to put his first car a lap down.
Lap 32 - Harvick's lead is up to 3.4 seconds.
Lap 40 - Harvick holds nearly a four-second lead.
Lap 61 - Harvick's lead is down to 2.3 seconds on Keselowski.
Lap 82 - Harvick continues to push out his lead.
Lap 91 - Harvick puts Menard a lap down.
Lap 95 - Harvick and Kenseth come to pit road from first and third, respectively.
Lap 105 - Harvick tracking down Buescher for fourth.
Lap 110 - Harvick was a lap down from the pit stop when the caution came out.
Lap 119 - Harvick wastes no time in taking second.
Lap 139 - Keselowski slides a bit and Harvick goes inside to take the lead back.
Lap 145 - Harvick has now led 100 laps tonight.
Lap 164 - Harvick, Elliott, Stenhouse, Dillon the latest to pit.
Lap 180 - Harvick starting to build a little bit of a lead.
Lap 191 - The Harvick lead is now up to two seconds.
Lap 194 - Harvick now has a 3.6 second lead on familiar foe Joey Logano.
Lao 211 - Harvick checks out on that restart with Kyle Busch in P2.
Lap 231 - Only two leaders -- Harvick and Keselowski -- so far tonight.
Lap 241 - Harvick has now led 10,000 laps in his career.
Lap 252 to 254 - Race off pit road: Hamlin, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Logano, Harvick, Larson, Truex, McMurray, Keselowski and Edwards. Hamlin and KyBu gained four spots each.
Harvick lost four spots on that pit stop. Harvick's bad pit stop was a result of trouble with the right front.
Lap 257 - Harvick having to hold off Larson and Logano in P4.
Lap 268 - Harvick goes inside to take second from Hamlin.
Lap 272-273 - Harvick goes inside in between Turns 3 and 4 for the lead but can't get to it. Harvick tries it again and gets the lead.
Lap 282 - Harvick pitted from the lead and lost a ton of spots.
Lap 283 - Harvick's crew had a broken air gun on that stop. He came in P12, lost 11 spots on that stop. He has led 213 laps tonight.
Lap 287 - Harvick is up to P8.
Lap 303 - Harvick takes his hot rod up to P6.
Lap 305 - Harvick trying to get by Kenseth on the inside for P5 and does.
Lap 324 - Harvick around Hamlin on the inside for P3.
Lap 341 - Harvick gets by for P3. Larson loses a spot to Logano and is now sixth.
Lap 344 - Harvick gets Newman on the backstretch for P2.
Lap 347/348 - Harvick hits the wall running in second. The 4 car get wicked loose and smacked the wall.
Lao 357 - Harvick goes back up high to take second away.
Finish: Truex, Harvick, Larson, Hamlin, Logano, Kenseth, Kahne, Newman, Keselowski and Elliott.
For crew chief Rodney Childers, the near-win was a letdown to an evidently dominant car that he had spent hours laboring over Saturday night.
"So, we did all that stuff right and we just had a part failure inside one of our pit guns, very unusual thing -- it wasn't the changer's fault ... But definitely some things that we've got to clean up before (the Chase opener at) Chicago and honestly, that department's got to do a lot better job."
