Kevin Harvick’s Texas victory marks him out as a “dangerous” opponent for his NASCAR Cup title rivals in the Homestead decider, says his Stewart-Haas team boss Tony Stewart.
Sunday’s win made Harvick the third driver confirmed for the four-way championship shootout in the finale, alongside last week’s Martinsville winner Kyle Busch and runaway playoff points leader Martin Truex Jr.
“At the beginning of the year your goal is always to get into the playoffs,” Stewart told Autosport.
“We’re in ‘phase number two’ of it now that we’re locked into Homestead. Now, we just have to finish it off.
“After a day like today, I like our odds right now.
“We’ve always believed in Kevin and [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] and the #4 team, but I saw something in them today that makes me think they are going to be really dangerous at Homestead.”
Harvick admitted he had been very pessimistic about his title chances earlier in the season.
“We didn’t really feel like we were consistently in contention to win races, not leading laps,” he said.
“When you don’t lead laps, you can’t win races and control things.
“You can luck into them every once in a while, but you can’t control things like [Truex] has done this year and [Kyle Busch].”
Harvick said improving SHR’s performance at the intermediate-length tracks – where Truex and Furniture Row have won six times in 2017 – convinced him the title was now possible.
“As the playoffs have started, we started leading laps again at the mile-and-a-half racetracks. That’s really been our focus,” Harvick said.
“Three or four months ago it was: ‘how are we not going to make any mistakes, be thorough, and capitalise on everybody else’s mistakes?’
“When we got done with Charlotte, it was, ‘OK, we can still win a championship.'”
Though Truex has not won a race in the latest phase of the playoffs and was passed for the lead by Harvick in the closing stages at Texas, his second place secured a place in the title shootout on points regardless of what happens at Phoenix next week.
“It feels great, it feels amazing – what we set out to do this year was to make it to Homestead and fight for the title and we’re right there,” Truex said.
“To win seven races, it’s been an amazing season.
“When you get two seconds in a row and you’re disappointed, it says something about your team and your confidence in them.
“I’m really excited to go to Homestead and I think we’ll have something for them.”
Brad Keselowski has a 19-point cushion over Denny Hamlin in fourth in the playoff standings heading to Phoenix.
But Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson can still usurp Keselowski from the final championship shootout spot by winning’s next weekend’s race.