Kevin Harvick: Ross Chastain faces 'impossible to win scenario'

Ross Chastain’s season to this point has been uninspiring when compared to the two seasons before it, where he won races and had one of the fastest cars in the field.

That’s not to say it’s been all bad for Chastain, but when it comes to race-winning speed, he simply hasn’t it found it yet, Kevin Harvick said on his “Happy Hour” podcast this week. And with only five regular season races remaining, it may cost him as he sits just 53 points above the playoff cutline.

“I think Ross and his team have grinded out decent finishes and put themselves in a decent position points wise,” Harvick said. “They haven’t had the speed that they need to have to win races and that’s what it really comes down to. [Daniel] Suarez got himself in a position to where he won at Atlanta and was able to put himself in a position to be in the playoffs. But they haven’t had the speed either. He’s had some OK finishes on the road courses and Chicago was OK, but these last couple weeks for Ross have been tough.

“Didn’t have a great week at Chicago, this last week just lost the car off Turn 3 and got into the wall and ended their day. When you don’t have the speed, you can’t have those bad finishes to go along with a lack of speed. I just think they’re in that position right now where they don’t have the speed they need to win races.”

Ross Chastain hitting a lull at the wrong time

Chastain suffered a setback this past Sunday at Pocono, losing control of his No. 1 Chevrolet and hitting the wall in Turn 3 on Lap 52. With several first-time winners in recent weeks such as Austin Cindric, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman, Chastain has lost ground in the playoff race.

The last thing Chastain wants is to be in a must-win situation at Daytona, but if he is, Harvick believes it puts him in an almost impossible situation.

“Here’s the unique part for that 16th spot,” Harvick said. “I’ve been there and it’s not a fun position to be in when that if one person wins, you’re out. And you’ve got these last five to six weeks that you’ve got before the playoffs. So, what do you do when you go to Daytona? That’s the tricky question. Let’s just say they go to Daytona in a few weeks and they’re like we know we need to win, we know we need to take a lot of chances.

“But if we do take a lot of chances and have something happen, then we’re down on points. It becomes this impossible to win scenario from a what to do standpoint. That’s a tough one to balance because you gotta go for the win, but you could cost yourself a ton of points by taking too many risks. But Ross almost won the Daytona 500 and I think that they have to go there and try to win.”