In 2021, Kevin Harvick will be “scratching and clawing” for every point

Kevin Harvick’s NASCAR Cup Series season in 2021 may not appear to be bad on paper, but it’s a long way from his career-best performance in 2020.

Last year, Harvick and his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team won nine races in the series, a personal high for the experienced driver.

He didn’t make it to the Championship 4, but he ended fifth in the series, with the best average starting position of 7.7 and average finishing position of 7.3 of his career.

While Harvick is presently fifth in the series standings with seven top-10 finishes after ten races in 2021, neither he nor his SHR teammates are close to replicating their great season a year ago.

“Something I tell everybody year after year – whether we’ve had a good year or a bad year – you just never know what the next year is going to bring until you get on the race track,” he said.

“The things that people don’t see during the offseason are the things most people don’t see – whether NASCAR changes a little rule here, or Goodyear makes a little bit of a change to a tire there.

“Sometimes it suits you and sometimes it doesn’t. Last year, everything went our way. This year, it hasn’t really gone our way.”

Harvick has only led 29 laps this season after winning the series with 1,531 in 2020. He has yet to enter Victory Lane, and his average start and finish are now 8.3 and 10.3, respectively.

His three SHR teammates – Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer, and Aric Almirola – are likewise winless on the season, with none of them ranking higher than 23rd in the series standings.

Kevin Harvick Shirt Hoodie Racing Uniform Clothes Nascar

“Our team has really done a great job of scratching and clawing for every position that you can get on the weekend. It’s bought us time week after week to get our cars back to where we want them to be,” Harvick, 45, said.

“It’s not a position that we haven’t been in before. It’s definitely part of the sport and part of the things you have to do to keep yourself going – you’re sometimes digging yourself out of a hole and figuring things out. It’s a big science project, I can say that for sure.

“I think there are a lot of engineers on a lot of computers burning the midnight oil trying to make sure we start making some headway on getting our cars back to where we need them.”

SHR is “a little bit off on the speed side of things,” according to Harvick, and his team has focused on making the most of every race it can in the meantime to avoid falling too far behind during the regular season.

That strategy has maintained Harvick and the No. 4 team in competition for wins and a playoff spot thus far.

Kevin Harvick Shirt Hoodie Racing Uniform Clothes Nascar

“Our season is so long that you really have to focus on making sure you’re in the right spot when you get to the end of race No. 26. We’ve been on both sides of this fence – we’ve been slow starters, we’ve been fast starters, we’ve run good all season – we’ve experienced it all,” he said.

“We definitely have to be in this particular mindset until we 100 percent get it fixed. I think everybody’s doing a great job of just making sure that we’re doing that right now. Getting the most out of each weekend is very important.”

Harvick and his team will have another chance to see how far they’ve come since the season began on Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

Last season, he finished fourth and second in both races at Kansas, and his three triumphs there are tied for second among all drivers.

So far this season, Harvick’s results at three intermediate tracks have been all over the map: fifth at Homestead, 20th at Las Vegas, and 10th at Atlanta. He hasn’t led a single lap in any of the three races.

Whether SHR’s speed has improved or not this weekend, Harvick said he will remained focused on getting the most out of the situation.

“Finishing races is very important, and knowing the capability of your car. In today’s world, not a lot of people realize that,” he said.

“When you can realize that and have a 15th-place car and finish ninth with it – which happens a lot because so many people just make so many mistakes – you can really capitalize on a weekend when you’re not really where you need to be from a performance standpoint.”

The uniforms of NASCAR racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:

Denny Hamlin Shirt Hoodie Racing Uniform Clothes Nascar