Hot 20 – Harvick hoping for some California heat

Four winners, three of whom sit atop our leader board. As important as victories are this season in determining the Chase contenders, it would be hard to include Kevin Harvick among the best under normal circumstances.

Harvick may have won at Phoenix, and his 13^th at Daytona may have been acceptable. Even his runs at Las Vegas and Bristol were impressive for as long as they lasted, but when you are listed as 41^st and 39^th in the final results it does take the bloom off the rose. Turns it into stinkweed, to be honest.

Still, in determining our top performer over the course of a 36-race season, that win does keep Harvick six slots better than the official standings, with the 22 bonus points we hand out to winners. As we are not interested in a Chase or even the television ratings for Homestead, we can dwell on just who has been the best performer. Even with a string of three Top Threes broken up by a 14^th at Bristol, that would still be Brad Keselowski to this point.

If you were wondering, as the action heads west to California this weekend, Regan Smith and Trevor Bayne remain our hot duo in the Nationwide series. I wonder if ESPN will have time to interview them after they are done gushing over Kyle Busch once again at Fontana?  The big boy visiting the little sandbox has won six of the past eight junior circuit events at this track.

Kyle won the Cup race at Fontana a year ago. Other recent winners include Tony Stewart, Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards. No one who isn’t already a someone will visit Victory Lane on Sunday.