BY GEORGE DICKIE
A regular on Victory Lane in his two-plus decades in the
NASCAR Cup Series, Kevin Harvick had the alien experience
of going winless in 2021, something that hadn't happened in
12 years.
But on Sunday, March 13, the driver of the No. 4 Ford
Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing heads to the track where
he's had his greatest successes when he vies at Phoenix
Raceway in the Ruoff Mortgage 500.
His stats on the 1-mile low-banked tri-oval are impressive
and eye-popping. In 38 races there dating back to 2001, the
46-year-old native of Bakersfield, Calif., has a record nine wins
to go along with 18 top-fives, 27 top-10s, 34 top-20s, two
poles and 1,663 laps led. He also won four Phoenix races in
a row from November 2013 to March 2015 and six of eight
from November '12 to March '16.
Though the 2014 Cup Series champion hasn't won in the
desert in four years, his most recent race there amounted to a
triumph of sorts. His eighth place finish in the season finale
in November helped secure him fifth place in the final Cup
standings, the highest finish
of the non-championship four
drivers, as well as an impressive
comeback from the bottom of
the 16-driver playoff field.
Fox will have the coverage
on Sunday as Harvick goes
for victory No. 10 at Phoenix
against the likes of defending
series champ Kyle Larson, Joey
Logano, Denny Hamlin, Brad
Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Chase
Elliott and Martin Truex Jr.
Beware of Kevin Harvick
in the desert
• FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 14 - 20, 2022 •
Holmes and Sam Straley
are among the stars of
"Welcome to Flatch,"
premiering Thursday
on Fox.
YOUR WEEKLY GUIDE TO TV ENTERTAINMENT
