Kevin Harvick can't conjure any Chase magic at Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The mission was simple for Kevin Harvick at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday if he wanted to keep his Chase for the Sprint Cup hopes alive: He had to win.

When NASCAR launched the revamped Chase for the Sprint Cup format in 2014, this was the sort of scenario chairman Brian France wanted. It was "win or go home" in the truest sense for Harvick. And he was at the exact track he’d choose to tackle this scenario — a place where he had won six of eight races.

Yet, at the Can-Am 500, Harvick couldn’t extend his Phoenix dominance for one more race. He finished in fourth place as Joey Logano and Kyle Busch took first and second place, respectively. Logano and Busch will square off against Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards in next week's championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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For Harvick, it was an afternoon where not enough went right. He never held a lead on Sunday despite having led 1,484 laps in his career at PIR.

"We were in contention there at the end and just came up short," Harvick said. "I’m really proud of everybody for the effort that they put in. It was a very challenging Chase for us with all the mechanical failures and situations that we had going on. And we kept rebounding and winning races. And today, we were a lot down and came back to have a chance at the end."

Harvick had made clutch performances a habit the past two seasons. He won in 2014 and finished second in 2015 — frequently staying in the Chase after facing elimination. That streak of reaching the championship race came to an end.

After the race, Harvick was frustrated with Kyle Larson, feeling that the No. 42 Chevrolet was overly aggressive in the final restart that included four Chase contenders in the top five.

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"Fourty-two (Larson) dive-bombed everybody and we got three guys racing for the championship there," Harvick said. "I know he wants to win, but all in all, didn’t really make a race out of it there at the end."

Larson finished third, just ahead of Harvick.

Still, Harvick was thankful for his team’s effort and didn’t put it all on Larson.

"In the end, we had a chance and they were able to swing for it there at the end," Harvick said. "We just didn’t quite have it all weekend. We made our car a ton better as we got into the race, so I’m proud of everybody for that."

It just wasn’t his afternoon.

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