Kevin Harvick predicts 'wildcard race' at Atlanta

Kevin Harvick believes this weekend’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is going to be an unpredictable, wild event.

As the Round of 16 gets underway, Harvick hearkened back to the February race at the track, and the raucous nature of the speedway since its reconfiguration. It now lends itself to the same ferocity that we’ve seen at tracks like Daytona and Talladega, and Harvick believes each playoff driver simply must survive the chaos.

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“When you look at the points and how tight they are, this is a different start to the playoffs,” Harvick stated, via Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “The points have been like this, but they haven’t ever gone to Atlanta at three o’clock in the afternoon, where it’s going to be 80 degrees and you’re going to be super speedway racing, knowing that you’ve got to hold that thing down, that pedal down, as much as you can, to go fast.

“I think we’re going to see a wildcard race like we haven’t seen before. This is not your Talladega or Daytona that we’re going to.”

Continuing, Harvick provided some advice on how drivers can make it through the Round of 16, and the differences it presents as opposed to the following rounds in the playoffs. Harvick believe it’s not exactly a must-win scenario for each wheelman, but simply a survive and advance strategy can help move a driver forward in their chase for a Cup Series title.

“My approach has always been this, let’s go to the first one and see how we are,” Harvick added. “See where, when you get done with the first race and you know, I think, going to Atlanta, I think you have to be aggressive. You’ve got to put yourself in a position to where you have track position. Race at the front of the pack, if you have that opportunity.

“If your car’s crap and it’s not handling good and you have something wrong, then you have to go into a little bit of defense mode, and be smart about who you’re around, what you’re doing. ‘Okay, we’re slow, so let’s concentrate on handling. Let’s concentrate on whatever we need to be from a track position standpoint, if our car’s too slow or we’ve got too much downforce in the car,’ because that’s really the trick at Atlanta. I don’t think you want to get too far ahead of yourself, from having an ultimatum planned, because I think it changes. I think you have to be able to adapt to what happens one week and go to the next week, to know how you need to race.

“… There are multiple ways to survive these first round playoffs. I think, the second round and third round are a little bit different, from what you need to do, but this first round, you can survive off of just being smart.”

Alas, Atlanta Motor Speedway has been the site for some of the Cup Series’ top races over the last couple of seasons, and Kevin Harvick recognizes the pressure will be turned up to an 11 on Sunday. Whoever makes it through unscathed will set themselves up nicely to advance in the playoffs.