Remember Harvick? The Cup champ?
— -- DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- This has not been the all-time strangest Daytona Speedweeks. Nor has it been the all-time most controversy-filled. And according to meteorologists, it hasn't been the all-time coldest, either. But has it been the combined coldest, strangest and most controversy-filled Daytona Speedweeks of all time?
"It's gotta be in the discussion," agreed Kevin Harvick, preparing to make his 14th Daytona 500. "Kind of makes you wonder what in the world might happen on Sunday, doesn't it?"
From the time NASCAR Sprint Cup teams first started unloading their gear at the World Center of Racing nearly a week and a half ago, everything about these Daytona days has felt off-center, off-kilter and off-balance. Now, everyone in the sport is hoping that when the green flag falls around 1:15 p.m. ET on Sunday (Fox), that the return of the Great American Race -- not to mention warm temperatures -- also will bring the return of some sense of normalcy.
But don't bet on it.
"This is one of those weeks when you think you know how it's all going to go based on what we've seen so far," Harvick further observed. "But if we've learned anything this month, it's that whenever we think we know how it's going to go, that's probably not how it's going to go."
In the beginning of Speedweeks those wobbly feelings were rooted in an inability to actually put down roots. NASCAR's decision to do away with testing meant teams cancelled their annual January trips to Daytona Beach that had become a sort of instinctual migration for race teams.
That unsettledness continued through a bizarre group qualifying session one week ago, the first major alteration to setting the Daytona 500 field in the nearly 60-year history of the race. Nearly every practice session, before and after, featured some sort of high-profile wreck, including a Denny Hamlin vs. Danica Patrick feud.
That spat continued in Thursday night's Duel 150 qualifying races, which were run at night for only the second time, this time in unusually frigid conditions. A confusing process that had no fewer than 19 teams sitting on the in/out bubble led to an influx of small-dollar teams racing their way in. When told they were in, most echoed the thoughts of Casey Mears, who admitted, "People would come up to me all week and ask, 'OK, what do you need to do to make Sunday's race?' And I honestly couldn't answer it."
One day later, Kurt Busch was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR as the sanctioning body sorted through the details of an ongoing domestic violence dispute with ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll, the so-called "trained assassin" who spent her Friday doing the national media rounds. On Saturday he appealed that decision, but knew he wouldn't be in Sunday's race regardless of the outcome.
There has been so much "other stuff" that the winners of the week's Sprint Cup events -- from Matt Kenseth in the Sprint Unlimited all-star exhibition to Jeff Gordon in pole qualifying to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson in the 150s -- have felt largely marginalized.
"Is that it?" Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, said to the assembled media after the post-victory press session proved surprisingly quiet. Everyone was obsessed instead with the just-finished televised shouting match between Patrick and Hamlin on pit road. "OK," he said, slinking off the stage, "see you later ..."
On paper, Knaus' employer, Hendrick Motorsports, would appear to have its ninth Daytona 500 win, and its third in a row, on lockdown. Gordon and Johnson swept the front row in pole qualifying, Johnson and Earnhardt won the Duels in dominating fashion and teammate Kasey Kahne will start a solid 13th. Most in the garage agree that the biggest challenge to Hendrick's blockade will be Joe Gibbs Racing, which earned the fourth and sixth starting positions just behind Hendrick's big three, with Kyle Busch alongside Earnhardt on Row 2 and newcomer Carl Edwards right behind Busch. Their teammate Kenseth starts a disappointing 35th, but after the all-star win and a strong showing in his 150, he is not expected to stay there long.
But those in the garage also agree with Harvick's assessment that during this sort of wonky week, the forces in the air around the speedway this February aren't likely to allow for such a neat and tidy conclusion.
"The good news about having success throughout Speedweeks is that people are talking about you and everything feels great," explained Gordon, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who is also likely making his final 500 start. "The bad news is that when you come down here and Speedweeks has this kind of weird vibe, then a lot of times the guys who have been in the headlines all week aren't usually the ones who win the race. It's someone that's been under the radar all week."
That sentiment doesn't merely agree with Harvick. It points to Harvick.
The defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion has slowly faded from the public radar as the Daytona days have ground ahead. He's ranked a solid fourth when it comes to media coverage of his own Stewart-Haas Racing team, trailing Patrick's near miss of making the race, Busch's suspension and boss Tony Stewart, who is trying to rebound from a tragic 2014 season and is entering a Dale Earnhardt level of Daytona frustration, with 19 wins at the track, but 0-for16 in the Great American Race.
With the exception of a post-Sprint Unlimited disagreement with Logano, Harvick has remained largely low key, quick and cautious. It was Harvick's team that first let the world know it would be sitting out Friday's practice sessions. In Saturday's final pre-500 warm-up the team shook down the No. 4 Chevy by running 21 laps and covered it up.
"I've come down here and been the guy people talked about all week and then did nothing on Sunday," Harvick said. "But in 2007 I ran like crap all week and nobody was talking about us and then we won the Daytona 500. They talk about you plenty then. So it's not how you start the week, it's how you end it."
No matter how weird that week might be.
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