Cue Brent Musburger, Irv Cross and Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder or Bob Costas, Pete Axthelm and Ahmad Rashad, or even Howard Cosell.
We’ve arrived at halftime of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Five races run, five more to go. And the first half highlights for Kevin Harvck and the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang team are exciting.
They began with an early win in the Round of 16 at Darlington (S.C) Raceway, followed by another at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, along with four top-10s, 301 laps led and completion of all 1,735 laps available. Harvick is second in the standings with 3,121 points and is 68 markers ahead of the Round of 8 cutoff, which will occur after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
If Harvick advances, it will be the seventh consecutive year he has advanced to the Round of 8. But while Musburger, Costas and Cosell are catching everyone up on all the action from the first half, Harvick is looking forward to Sunday’s road-course race.
Harvick is a week-by-week guy and doesn’t look too far ahead. His concern this week is the tricky “roval,” on which he has finished in the top-10 twice in two outings. It’s a tricky layout where someone’s mistake can cost another driver a good finish.
Thankfully, Harvick will have the help of Mobil 1 as a sponsor and partner at the roval, and there is no better place to have that advantage for a road-course car that will depend greatly on oils, lubricants and grease.
Mobil 1 isn’t just the world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand, it also provides the entire SHR team with leading lubricant technology, ensuring that all SHR Mustangs have a competitive edge over the competition on the track. In its 18th consecutive season as the “Official Motor Oil of NASCAR,” Mobil 1 is used by more than 50 percent of teams throughout NASCAR’s top three series.
Harvick has had success at road races in his NASCAR career as he won at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in 2006 and at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in 2017. He also won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race the day before the Cup Series race at Sonoma, and has also competed in eight NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Watkins Glen with a win in 2007, one pole and top-10 finishes in all eight races. And Harvick has competed in three NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races at Watkins Glen with a best finish of seventh in 1999.
Harvick is one of only three active drivers to claim a NASCAR Cup Series victory at both true road courses on the schedule – Watkins Glen and Sonoma. Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., are the others who can make that claim.
The “12 minutes” of halftime are almost up – and the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series season is about to begin.
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