Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick snapped out of his slump in time to storm into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Harvick picked up his fourth win of the season Saturday night by winning at Richmond International Raceway. The victory ties Kyle Busch for most in the Sprint Cup Series, and puts the two rivals at the top of the Chase standings. The 10-race Chase begins next Sunday at Chicago. The field will include Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will race for the championship for the first time since 2008.

Truth time, I never really believed that Kevin Harvick had what it took to compete for a championship. 2010 made me a believer. It's easy to jump into a team that is clicking on all cylinders and run well. And that's what Harvick did early in his career. But as the team became more and more his and not Earhardts, he started to struggle. But make no mistake, last year's team was all Harvick's and he ran the heck out of the #29. So why do I have him down at #6 and not up closer to compete for a title?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas coming out of the final turn of the Coca-Cola 600, giving Kevin Harvick the win in NASCAR's longest race of the year. Earnhardt had jumped out to a sizable lead on the final restart of Sunday night's race. It was a two-lap "overtime" sprint to the finish, and Earnhardt knew stretching his gas to the finish was going to be tough. His Chevrolet ran dry as he roared through the final turn, and Harvick sailed past for his third win of the season.

Ron Hornaday Jr. will drive for Joe Denette Motorsports in the Truck Series next year. The four-time series champion will drive the No. 9 Chevrolet and be partnered with crew chief Jeff Hensley. The team says it will run a second entry in select 2012 Truck Series races. Hornaday had to look for a job when Kevin Harvick said in September he was shutting down his race teams. The Nationwide Series cars are being transferred to Richard Childress Racing, but Kevin Harvick Inc.'s trucks are just going away.

Kevin Harvick passed Denny Hamlin with 11 laps to go, then held on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Michigan International Speedway. Harvick's No. 29 team gambled by staying on the track instead of making a pit stop during a late caution. It paid off with a momentum-building victory Sunday for the series points leader. This is Harvick's third win of the season and his first this year on a nonrestrictor plate track. Hamlin finished second, followed by Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

Denny Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with 29 laps to go Sunday and won his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin became the first driver since Jimmie Johnson to sweep both races on the smallest track in NASCAR's premier series, and both he and Harvick closed the gap on Johnson in the points race with four races remaining. Hamlin trails by just six points, Harvick by 62. Harvick finished third after Mark Martin passed him in the closing laps, but Harvick still had his best showing in 19 career starts at the track.

Sprint Cup drivers remained tightlipped rather than second-guess NASCAR for the no-caution finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway last week. Kevin Harvick passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. for his third victory of the season when Earnhardt ran out of gas in the final lap, but wouldn't even acknowledge any controversy over the decision not to throw a yellow when Jeff Burton spun in traffic. Earnhardt likely would have coasted to his first win in almost three years had the caution come out. He also steered clear of the issue, though he noted his fans' bitter disappointment.

Kevin Harvick took the lead by dodging a caution caused by leader Kurt Busch, then pulled away on a restart with 17 laps to go and won the Nationwide Series race Friday night at Richmond International Raceway. The victory snapped a 30-race winless streak in the series for Harvick, whose last victory came in this race two years ago. It was his 38th victory in the series, and fifth at Richmond. As he had done for much of the race, Harvick pulled away as if he had an extra gear when the race went back to green on lap 234, leaving championship contender Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Busch to battle for second.

Carl Edwards has snapped a 70-race losing streak with a win at Phoenix International Raceway. But the attention Sunday was on the three-driver championship race, and a dominating performance by Denny Hamlin that was derailed by poor fuel mileage in his Toyota. Emporia native Clint Bowyer finished 21st. Hamlin led a race-high 190 laps but didn't have the gas to make it to the finish. He gave up second place with 14 laps left for a fuel stop, and finished 12th. Jimmie Johnson conserved enough gas to make it to the end and finished fifth.

It's Kevin Harvick favorite line this season, claiming his team is not a "Lame Duck Dynasty. " I'll admit, I have never seen the show, but I do know that Phil apparently likes to say "Happy, happy, happy. " Maybe it's an unofficial cheer for Happy Harvick, maybe a "happy" coincidence. Still the fact of whether or not this 29 team is a lame duck this season is an interesting one. It's already known that Harvick will drive for Stewart Haas Racing in 2014.   "You look at what we're doing and we're focused on this year," said Harvick.

I'm not gonna lie. The relationship between Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress this year is a strange one. Harvick is not returning to RCR in 2014. It's pretty much common knowledge that "Happy" is headed to Stewart Haas Racing next season. So it might be easy for him, or members of the RCR #29 team to sleep walk through 2013. Well, in case you thought that might happen this season, Harvick and his team certainly sent a message to everyone that they are in it to win it this year.

In case you haven't noticed, the NASCAR police has been very busy over the last week or so. From Penske to Gibbs, names that have not normally been in the spotlight are getting busted too. So is NASCAR being unusually harsh on teams? "We've got the rules in play," said NASCAR VP of Competion Robin Pemberton. "They're put there a lot of times by NASCAR, but with input from the teams, manufacturers and outside experts, and it's our job to manage those rules and manage that rule book as it relates to the garage area.

I know the eyes of the sports world will be on that little basketball tournament in Atlanta this weekend. But on the in between day, don't sleep on the race at the little track in Virginia. The Martinsville Speedway IS "madness" and we aren't in March anymore, so ratchet it up a notch. Short track, short tempers, that is what Martinsville is all about. In past races at the 1/2 mile track, we've seen finger  pointing, helmets fly, Ward Burton even threw his heel guards once. "It is so important to remain focused," said former Martinsville winner Jeff Burton.

In my opinion, every NASCAR race, or at least every race in the Chase should be run under the lights. The cars look better, faster and Saturday night racing just feels more like racing at the local dirt tracks. As it is, the only night race in the Chase that we have, is Saturday night in Charlotte. "Once night falls during the October race, Charlotte (Motor Speedway) becomes completely different than what we practice on during the day," said Kevin Harvick.  "You can bet on the fact that the track will be really fast as the temperature drops and we'll gain a lot of grip.

NASCAR heads to it's "wild card" race in the Chase. But for Kansas native Clint Bowyer, Talladega has been anything but wild. He has won each of the last two fall races in Alabama. And you have to think he is one of the favorites again. "This is a big weekend I think for our sport, for our Chase and everybody involved in it," said Bowyer. "This can be a game changer.  This is one of the tracks that can separate somebody and possibly win you a championship. " With everyone in the chase running so well, one bad race can be their chase.

Chicago may be the Second City, but it's first up in the Chase for the Championship. Getting off to a good start at the Chicagoland Speedway is critical, not only because it's first race of the chase, but also because it's the first of five 1.5 mile tracks in the championship. "You want to come out of the gate strong and get the best possible result you can," said Jeff Gordon. "If that's a win, great, if that's fifth, great. A lot can happen during the Chase. To me, 10 weeks is a lot of racing.

Kevin Harvick took the lead by dodging a caution caused by leader Kurt Busch, then pulled away on a restart with 17 laps to go and won the Nationwide Series race Friday night at Richmond International Raceway. The victory snapped a 30-race winless streak in the series for Harvick, whose last victory came in this race two years ago. It was his 38th victory in the series, and fifth at Richmond. As he had done for much of the race, Harvick pulled away as if he had an extra gear when the race went back to green on lap 234, leaving championship contender Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Busch to battle for second.

Okay, let's talk playoffs. There are technically eight drivers still alive to make the NASCAR Chase for the Championship. But unless your name is Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon or Kyle Busch, you basically have to win and get some help to get in. "We're confident coming into this weekend," said Busch. "We feel like we've always done well here.  We have really good notes that we have a good basis for being able to run well here and have a good foundation to start practice with.  We'll continue to do some of the same things that we've always done here in the past to make our car what it needs to be for the race on Saturday night.

This week NASCAR heads to Bristol, Tennessee. The night race at the world's fastest half mile is truly one of the greatest spectacles in sport. But after the spring race at Bristol, many had said the magic was gone. So the Tennessee track got a little work done. Not full on plastic surgery, more like a little nip and tuck. "We're excited to go there … they changed the track a little bit, so we'll have to be ready for anything," said Martin Truex, Junior. "I feel like we can go back there and run even better than we did the last two times.