Consider Harvick a favorite for Sunday race at AMS

By Jeff Hood

For the AJC

HAMPTON -- There are plenty of reasons to consider NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick a solid favorite to win Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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Johnny Crawford, Jcrawford@ajc.com Mike Fincel, of Buford, assembles his satellite dish in the infield of the Atlanta Motor Speedway on Thursday. More than 150,000 race fans were expected to attend the two NASCAR races and NASCAR qualifying at the track March 5-7.

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He led the most laps in the season-opening Daytona 500 only to slip to seventh during the frantic conclusion.

The driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet is coming off runner-up finishes at Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

And Harvick, the lone driver to finish in the top five in both Cup races in Atlanta last season, has been a key figure in the resurgence of Richard Childress Racing.

“We’re really looking forward to Atlanta based on how we ran there [in September],” said Harvick, who will also compete in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. “It has become one of those tracks that has been really good for us in anything that we have been racing there over the past three or four years.

“Anything short of being competitive for a win or a top five on the Cup side would be a letdown.”

AMS was the site of Harvick’s first Cup victory, in 2001. His emotional win came one month after the death of Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t remember much about that day,” Harvick said. “There were just so many different emotions and things that ran through my head that it was just kind of more of a strange moment than it was anything.”

Qualifying speed

When qualifying gets underway at 6 p.m. Friday, four-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will make certain the safety belts in his No. 48 Chevrolet are extra snug.

“Atlanta is such a fast track that, when you strap in for qualifying, I think you have to pull them tight and know that you have to step up and get it done,” Johnson said. “But then when you have the night factor.

“I think you take another 20 percent with you and just drive the car sometimes way over your head and way over what you think you can do because the grip level is so high and hope that it’s fast enough to lead you to the pole.”

Sunday driving

Qualifying under the lights is all about speed at AMS.

But a 500-mile race on Sunday afternoon at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, which was last paved in 1997, is more about patience and tire management.

“The biggest thing is just the way the speed falls off so much,” driver Jeff Burton said.

“It’s like it has two personalities. You’ve got this real aggressive, drive hard for qualifying and then when the race starts, you race it like you used to race Darlington.

“The place gets really slick and real slimy. It’s amazing the amount of grip you don’t have there. Finding a way to do it better than your competitor in a low, low grip arena: That’s the biggest challenge.”