Carl Edwards wins pole at New Hampshire for 2nd Chase race

His task – easier said than done – begins with Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC Sports), a place he has only won once in his career (fall 2006).

Harvick chuckled a bit.

Playoff racing is intense. He has a big job ahead of him. There are major things at stake here and sometimes people are going get out of a corner with less than they had when they got into it. He’s a predictable give-and-take driver, which is admirable in any stock auto driver and all that another driver can reasonably expect. The drivers went at it again previous year at Talladega Superspeedway.

It’s not that Harvick is cocky.

Late in the myAFibRisk.com 400 at the 1.5-mile track, Hamlin found his good fortune in the form of a serendipitous pit call on the part of crew chief Dave Rogers.

While the Gibbs stable left Chicagoland with smiles on their faces the same can’t be said about the defending series champion Kevin Harvick. The contact forced a left rear tire rub onto Harvick and his No. 4 Chevrolet, which ultimately resulted in a spin three laps later.

“No, I wasn’t surprised (Harvick) was upset. So, the lesser of two evils is usually not getting enough and I just didn’t get enough down there”. Keselowski has won just once (at Fontana, Calif.), but has 10 consecutive top-10 finishes (tying a Chase-era record) entering New Hampshire.

For Harvick, his normal M.O. has been to run up front. The 12th-place driver past year after Dover was Kasey Kahne, with 2,079 points.

After the race, when Johnson calmly walked over to Harvick’s motorhome to discuss their run-in and his version of how it got to that point, Harvick didn’t want to hear it and popped a jab into his chest. If he finishes in the top five at both New Hampshire and Dover, he’ll advance.

“The last restart, we were on the bottom”, Kenseth said. We gotta try to win though.

“It’s really wonderful how this JGR group is working together”, said Edwards after topping all other qualifiers with a lap of 137.980 miles per hour.

Faced with a dramatic uphill battle to advance in the Chase for the Championship, Kevin Harvick isn’t interested in talking about Jimmie Johnson or looking back to what happened last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. Logano will start eighth.

Harvick’s competitors won’t count him out. Remember the final laps of last November’s race at Texas, when Brad Keselowski moved Jeff Gordon out of the way?

The win for Hamlin was well earned as he is just two weeks removed from tearing his ACL that will have to be surgically repaired as soon as the season is over.

“I feel like my team is real strong”, said Kenseth, who owns four wins in 2015.

The dispute has overshadowed Denny Hamlin’s victory. I don’t know if it was that the sun went down or just really frustrating. “I know what I’m hoping for, but there’s no telling what will take place. But we’re confident that we can beat anybody, heads up, at Homestead if we have a chance”. Carl Edwards was able to best him however; still Harvick will roll off second Sunday beside Edwards who won his second straight New Hampshire pole. He started 29th and to make his trip to victory lane even tougher, his Toyota spun out on lap two leaving him a lap down.

Having been slapped with a hefty penalty during the week which saw his #15 Toyota team slip to last in the Chase standings, a quick turnaround is needed to ensure a safe passage into the second elimination round. Honestly, I have seen better fights over snacks at my kid’s daycare.

“I’m staying out of this one“, Logano said Friday when asked about Harvick’s regularly salty demeanor.

That’s racin’, as they say.

If the driver of the 48 vehicle were to meet TB12, they would likely strike up a fast friendship.

Logano then caught himself thinking ahead and quickly shifted gears. “It’s not a bad thing”, Logano said. “Everybody is focused on us now”.

That would be Harvick’s philosophy as well.

“You still have to go out with the mentality of trying to win the race, ” Harvick said.

“I didnt see it and I dont know, ” 2003 champion Matt Kenseth said.