Kevin Harvick says that winning a Championship today is different from how Dale Earnhart and Richard Petty did in the past.
The 2014 Champion is one of the main contenders to win the Championship this season. He leads the wins chart in the regular-season with 7 wins. However, even with his consistency throughout the regular season, he still has a lot to do to win his second championship. Speaking about the nature of wins in recent time, Harvick said:
“Winning a championship today isn’t how (Dale) Earnhardt and (Richard) Petty did it. I think it’s a much different style of winning a championship than what it used to be.
“When you look at the point standings from this year, you see why the playoffs were put into effect in trying to make sure that we had an intriguing 10 weeks of racing as we went toward the end of the year. It’s very difficult to get yourself to the last race of the season and be one of those four cars and trying to be able to race for let alone win a championship.
“It’s very difficult to put yourself in that position and once you get there be able to put everything together against the other three guys on one particular day, especially when it’s been at the same race track (Homestead-Miami Speedway) every season that we’ve gone about it this way.”
The regular-season champion will go into the playoffs with 57 playoff points.
[Read More: Ryan Blaney preparing to outclass Harvick-Hamlin dominance]
When petty and Earnhardt there wasn’t a lucky dog u had to earn your way back to be on the lead lap there wasn’t a drive around on caution rules changed also they said if u don’t start all the races u don’t qualify for the playoffs but what did they do Kyle Busch gets hurt misses races comes back and they change the rules for him and he wins the championship so it was harder back then
Exactly his point! They made it easier for the favorites, and harder for everyone else!
I find it difficult to watch the the races knowing that the best driver and team may not win the title. Back in the day as they say, you worked the whole season to win a title. Yes there where times when a driver could run away with it much like Harvick and Hamlin have this season but it came down to points earned over the season. It didnt come down to being lucky in the chase as you say where a i6 place team could possibly win the title while the best team all season has some bad luck. This season it should be Harvick or Hamlin because they are the best teams to date. If someone else other than one of these two wins it, what are you saying about team performance ? Put the 16 drivers names in a hat and the last name pulled is the winner. This will save all the teams millions and your still getting the same out come.
After watching Matt Kenneth win the 2003 Cup with 1 win and11 top 5’s, the Chase is much better. More effort is put into winning then point racing. Yes the “Lucky Dawg” gives one person their lap back, but many more times then I care to remember the leader slowed down and gave more then one person their lap back.
No way
I don’t think he meant that in a demeaning way at all. When they won their races and championships they were racing more and the big thing is there weren’t as many rules.
Look at how hard it would be for Kevin to drive with his knees to clean the windshield “totally impossible” with the way they are strapped in the cars.
Today’s racing is more about strategy rather than who can drive faster or better to win.