Can Harvick make it three in a row with a win at The Glen?

Harvick’s win two weeks ago at Michigan International Speedway snapped a 65-race winless streak, the second-longest of his career.

And then last weekend at Richmond, Va., Harvick won again, advancing to the 2022 playoffs and unexpectedly challenging for the season championship.

With two races left in the regular season, the Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen, N.Y. on Sunday, and the question is, can Harvick make it three in a row?

Why not? He’s done it before and not too long ago.

In 2018, Harvick crashed out of the season-opening Daytona 500, but went on to win the next three races – in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. He finished the year with eight wins, a career high at the time.

Sure, road racing is a lot different than the last two weeks, but Harvick has proven himself to be a talented road racer throughout his career, including wins at Sonoma (2017) and Watkins Glen (2006).

Harvick said his win at the Glen ranks among his favorite wins of his career because he had to beat current Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart to get the win.

Stewart was poised for his third straight win at the track as he led Harvick with four of 90 laps to go.

Harvick, who had led earlier in the race, passed Stewart on lap 87 as the two raced in a drag race across the front of the race and into Turn 1, and held on for the win. Stewart returned in 2007 to win again, making it three wins in four years.

“It was a fun day. Tony has always been very good at Watkins Glen and had a lot of success there,” Harvick said. “What I remember about racing with Tony that year was how good he was in the braking zone going into the ‘bus stop’ from the back.”

This season in the Next Gen machine, Harvick finished 11th, fourth, 10th and 33rd in four road races this year – COTA, Sonoma, Road America and the Indy Road Course.

“The biggest thing for us at Watkins Glen is that we’ve been a little weak in the braking zones the last couple of years,” he said.

“Hopefully the comfort level from the road races that we’ve had earlier (this year) will carry over there because that will definitely make up for our deficits that we’ve had the last couple of years.”

Harvick, 46, has repeatedly said this season that the Next Gen is best suited for the road course, thanks in large part to its sports car-like design.

“It definitely leans more towards good road handling just because that’s the nature of its design. I think for me our first road course was a lot more comfortable in the car than last year,” he said.

“As far as braking and other things with this car, so far it’s been good for us on the road courses.”

Greg Zippadelli, director of competition for Stewart-Haas Racing, said Wednesday that Harvick and his No. 4 SHR team are certainly capable of winning again this weekend.

“The No. 4 car has done a really good job in the past, honestly, you have to go back to Nashville, Sonoma, Pocono, I think it’s overlooked how well they’ve done at some of those race tracks,” he said. said. “They didn’t have a chance to win or lead for a few laps, but they had the speed and that’s when it started.

“The last two weeks they’ve done a great job of executing. Things took their turn. The cars unloaded with a bit more speed and that gave them an opportunity to win and they were able to take advantage of that.”