Harvick leads RCR charge, tops early season standings

FONTANA, Calif. - Kevin Harvick wanted to win the Auto Club 500 Sunday afternoon and he almost did.

Harvick hasn't won a Sprint Cup race since 2007 and he was on Jimmie Johnson's rear bumper with three laps remaining but wound up second after brushing the wall late.

The consolation prize for Harvick was finding himself atop the Sprint Cup points standings two races into the season.

"It's just what we're supposed to do," Harvick said. "That's what we get paid to do. We get paid to go out and drive the car as hard as we can and we're supposed to run up front.

"We're happy to have a shot. We just keep building on those things. It leaves that sour taste in your mouth when you don't win and you want to go back and win again."

Two races into the season, Harvick leads the points over Clint Bowyer, his teammate at Richard Childress Racing. Jeff Burton, who finished third Sunday while dueling Harvick late, is fifth in points.

For a team that failed to win a Cup race last year, it's a strong start.

"We felt good about what happened in the fall and over the winter, but until you start racing, you don't know where you are honestly," Burton said.

"I had quite a bit of confidence coming in, but until everybody gets out here and they're going to give somebody a trophy, you don't really know where you stand.

"I think (Harvick) had a shot to win both races, for sure. I think the (No.) 29 by far, the first two races of the year, has been the best car."

Before the sun had set, Harvick was already looking forward, not backward.

"You always need to get better," he said. "We don't need to get behind again. We need to progress forward before everyone else.

"That's going to be the thing that's most challenging for us. It's not catching up. We did that. It's getting in front of everybody else."