Harvick Scores Impressive Fourth Consecutive Win in Phoenix

'Happy' Family: Kevin Harvick poses in victory lane with his wife, DeLana
and his son, Keelan (Google Images)

Certain drivers have a knack for racing at certain race tracks. As the saying goes, there are horses for courses. For example, there was a while where Jimmie Johnson could not be beaten at Charlotte Motor Speedway. From May 2004 until May 2007, Johnson's worst finish was fifth. The rest of his finishes in that time frame were either wins or second place finishes.

When it comes to racing at Phoenix International Raceway, Kevin Harvick was always a dominant force. He scored four wins and 11 top ten finishes in the 22 starts he made there in the No. 29 car for Richard Childress Racing. But once he moved to Stewart-Haas Racing last season, Harvick is undefeated at Phoenix International Raceway. He got his last win at RCR at Phoenix in 2013 and his first win for SHR in last year's spring event. He also won in the fall event last season helped advance him to the championship finale and net him his first Sprint Cup championship. Now, after winning in Las Vegas one week ago, Happy Harvick scored two in a row by winning Sunday's CampingWorld.com 500 at PIR from the pole position.

Joey Logano, who won the Daytona 500 and has been competitive in every other race so far this year, flanked Harvick as the field took the green on  Sunday. While the race got off to a smooth start, it didn't take long for the first wreck of the day to happen. As the field came off turn four, after just one lap, Brian Vickers was cleared by spotter Roman Pemberton to slide up towards the wall coming off the corner. The only problem was that he wasn't as clear as Pemberton made it sound and Vickers clipped the front of Jimmie Johnson's Chevy and sent his No. 55 Toyota into the outside wall. The right front suspension was destroyed and the Aaron's Dream Machine was relegated to a 41st place finish.

Good thing Jr has Nationwide on his side (Google Images)

Tony Stewart was the winning car owner on the day, but the day inside his Bass Pro Shops SS went about as well as Brian Vickers' day. On lap 78, Stewart's car picked up a push off turn four and slid up into the No. 51 of Justin Allgaier. This spun Stewart backwards and sent him backwards into the outside wall, damaging the rear of his car. And when Paul Menard tapped him, the right side of the car made contact with the wall as well. Stewart finished a disappointing 39th on the day.

Speaking of backing into the wall, Dale Jr saw his promising day go south when he lost a right rear tire on lap 181. This sent his car backwards into the wall and the contact made Stewart's wreck look like a gentle tap. The entire rear end of the car was demolished and, to quote Jr's spotter T.J. Majors, "the whole tail piece [was] missing." On his way back to the Phoenix garage area, the right rear wheel actually caught fire. After a very consistent start to the year, Jr and new crew chief Greg Ives were relegated to a last place finish Sunday. But one thing that Jr Nation can take solace in is the fact that even though the No. 88 finished 43rd Sunday, they can only improve next weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

It was a very similar wreck to one that he had at Atlanta back in 2007 when a loose left rear fell off his No. 8 Chevy and sent him backwards into the outside wall. The impact in that wreck was much more violent, but both accidents were similar nonetheless.

This race also showed that the year of the underdog is set to continue. Jamie McMurray and his team pulled some late pit strategy to try and beat Harvick, but the best the No. 1 team could come away with was position No. 2. After a strong run in Las Vegas, Ryan Newman and his head wrench Luke Lambert finished third on the day. It might have looked like a fluke at the time, but the No. 31 team is doing a good deal to disprove that they backed into coming within one finishing position of winning last year's title. Martin Truex Jr also keeps proving the competitive level of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevy. The Denver-based race team came home a very impressive seventh on Sunday afternoon.

Kurt Busch returned to the drivers seat at Phoenix (Google Images)

But perhaps the biggest story of the weekend was Kurt Busch's return to racing. Like his boss Tony Stewart, Busch had teammate Kevin Harvick's setup under his No. 41 car. The difference is that Busch made it work and came home fifth. It was a very impressive run for the driver who was suspended recently for committing domestic violence. Busch has since been exonerated by the Kent County family court in Delaware. He has completed NASCAR's Road to Recovery program  and, pending he complies with any and all legal requirements that might arise from here on out, the sanctioning body elected to reinstate Busch.

You can hear Busch's thoughts on his impressive run here.

Next week, NASCATR will make one more stop on the left coast before returning back east to race at Martinsville. Kevin Harvick will be looking to win three races in a row on the year when the green flag falls at Auto Club Speedway at 3:30 pm/et Sunday. He will no doubt be hard to beat, but with drivers like Johnson and Logano hot on his heels, it should definitely be fun to watch the rest of the field try and topple a very dominant Harvick.