Kevin Harvick puts NASCAR Cup field on watch ahead of Penske playoff run

It’s playoff season in the NASCAR Cup Series. It should come as no surprise that Team Penske is trending up with the 10-race postseason getting underway with this Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag in this past Saturday’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. Joey Logano had one of the best cars in the field until he wrecked from the lead late in the race. As it seems to be every year, the racetracks line up perfectly for Penske in the playoffs. Penske has won all three championships in the Next Gen era, and Kevin Harvick fancies them again.

“Here we go again — Penske winning the race before the playoffs,” Harvick said on Tuesday’s Happy Hour podcast. “I look at those playoffs and the way they line out there is just good for Penske. … They’ve run better the last month. Blaney’s been solid all year, and he brought it up today on the interview — they had a miserable start to the season. So, the fact they got back up to second in the standings and were able to win their second race at Daytona, shows you the speed.”

In recent years, Penske drivers have won their win into the playoffs before hitting a new level once they get there. This year has been a little different, at least for Blaney. Even with a series-leading seven DNFs, the 2023 Cup champion still found a way to finish second in the regular season points standings.

Can Team Penske do it again?

He enters the postseason as the No. 4 seed, while his teammates, Logano and Austin Cindric, don’t have as much wiggle room. Cindric is the No 10 seed, Logano the No. 12 seed. Four drivers will be eliminated after the Round of 16; Logano is confident he won’t be one of them.

Yes, it’s an odd year. All three of Logano’s championships have come in an even year. Winning a fourth championship would place him in a tie for second-most all-time alongside Jeff Gordon. He knows that would “piss some people off.”

“That’d really piss some people off, wouldn’t it?” Logano told Kelly Crandall of ESPN. “Four would be incredible. Three was definitely special, and it does put you in a pretty elite group. I guess sometimes in self-reflecting a little bit, when you look at the end of your career and you say you have three championships, are you going to be happy? That’s something to be pretty proud of. I’m not going to be upset about it.

“I’m still also going to be the person to say, ‘Boy, I missed out on like four or five that I should have won,’ and still frustrated about that. Yeah, I don’t look too far ahead to what [four] would be, but gosh, it would be great. There’s always room for more.”