5 stats illustrating Kevin Harvick's ridiculously dominant 2020 NASCAR season

Like so much of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, this weekend’s doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway was all about Kevin Harvick.

The 44-year-old No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing driver swept the weekend, winning Saturday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 and Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 for his 54th and 55th career victories. Harvick now has six wins through 22 races this season, and he’s on pace to win at least nine, which seems fairly reasonable at this point. (He’s never had more than eight wins in a season.)

Particularly since NASCAR returned to the track in May after a 10-week hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvick has absolutely dominated his competition. All six of his checkered flags have come after the pause in the season, and even when he doesn’t win, he’s finishing among the top-10 drivers almost 90 percent of the time.

“I just go week-to-week,” the 2014 Cup Series champ told reporters on a Zoom call Sunday night, trying to compare 2020 to previous years. “As you get to the end of the season, you can kind of sit back and really look back on the things that have happened. That’s the same thing that we’ll do this year.”

Along with Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski with five and three wins, respectively, have also pulled away from the rest of the field. But at this point, Harvick has even separated himself from them.

So after winning two races in two days at Michigan this weekend, here are five stats showing just how dominant a season Harvick is having.

1. Kevin Harvick has already moved up five spots on the all-time wins list

Harvick began the 2020 season with 49 wins, which put him in a two-way tie with team owner Tony Stewart at No. 15 on the all-time wins list.

But with six wins (and counting) this season so far, Harvick is now among the top-10 drivers on the list. His checkered flag Sunday at Michigan moved him into a two-way tie for No. 10 with Rusty Wallace.

Other drivers Harvick has passed on that list include Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson. And when asked about that after winning Sunday, Harvick said:

“Those are names that would come with responsibility, and you have to think about what you’re doing in this sport and the things that you’re doing with yourself and your team and how you represent and the things you’re doing to push this sport forward.

“Icons in our sport, and it almost seems a little bit surreal to be going by those names and tying Rusty. Rusty has been a big part of my career. When I was in trouble early in my career, he was one of two guys that would talk to me and always gave me great advice and still does to this day.”

One more win for Harvick this season, and he’ll move into a tie with Kyle Busch, who has not yet won a race this season. However, if — or most likely, when — Harvick gets win No. 56 and ties Busch, he’ll have some significant work to do before moving up another spot. Dale Earnhardt Sr. is next on the list with 76 career wins.

2. Harvick is one of three drivers with double-digit top-5 finishes so far

Already tying his mark from the 2019 season, Harvick has racked up 15 top-5 finishes, which is the most in the Cup Series at this point. His streak is now nine straight top-5s.

“Look, we’ve had some great years,” Harvick said Sunday night. “I wouldn’t call this our best. I think 2015 and 2018 were great years. We closed 2014 really good. It’s hard to tell what the end of the year is going to bring as far as this could be the last win, you might win six more. You just never know.”

Only Harvick, Hamlin (12) and Busch (10) have double-digit numbers in that category through 22 races this season. And for what it’s worth, Harvick also has a series-leading 19 top-10 finishes.

Looking at Harvick’s 20-year career, he’s had seven seasons with 15 top-5 finishes or more, and in 2015 and 2018, he finished with 23 top-5s. And when he won his only title in 2014, he closed the year with five checkered flags and 14 top-5s.

3. Harvick has led more than 15 percent of all laps in 2020

After almost total domination at Michigan this weekend, Harvick has now led 888 laps of 5,806 total on the season, which translates to 15.29 percent of the total laps run. Obviously a significant percentage, it’s even more notable, again, because of the gap between him and his competition.

Behind Harvick, Hamlin is second in laps led so far with 631, or 10.87 percent, Keselowski is third with 628, or 10.82 percent, and Joey Logano is fourth with 605, or 10.42 percent. No one else in the field has broken 600 laps led in 2020 at this point.

4. Harvick is the first driver to win consecutive races on consecutive days in almost 50 years

So normally, most NASCAR Cup Series weekends don’t feature two races in two days. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Cup schedule is hardly recognizable, and NASCAR’s trip to Michigan was one of multiple weekend doubleheaders this year.

So with Harvick sweeping the weekend, he became the first driver to win back-to-back Cup races on back-to-back days since Richard Petty did it in 1971, per NBC Sports. When asked about that stat after the race, the No. 4 Ford driver said:

“It’s been a long time since I’ve raced back-to-back days, let alone in the Cup car. I’ve never accomplished that obviously … so I think for us, it’s worked out pretty well. We’re hoping it goes the same way at Dover when we go there in a couple of weeks.”

5. Harvick is running away in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings

Harvick is at the top of the regular season standings, which are decidedly different from NASCAR’s playoff standings, which also leads. He’s in first place with a 137-point lead over second place’s Keselowski.

To compare, there is a three-point difference between Keselowski and Hamlin in third place, a 35-point difference between Hamlin and Ryan Blaney in fourth and a 20-point difference between Blaney and Chase Elliott in fifth. So yeah, Harvick’s 137-point lead is outrageous, but it’s another way to demonstrate his consistent dominance.