NASCAR's Forgotten Points Leader, Kevin Harvick

Has anyone else noticed that we seem to be forgetting about someone when talking about the championship this year?

The media has turned Denny Hamlin into their main story and even NASCAR.com currently sports a picture of Hamlin above the headline “Who’s Number One?”  They seem to have overlooked the points standings when choosing who to put above the big black text.

Currently Hamlin sits in sixth position, one hundred and sixty four points out of first place.  That’s right; he’s not even currently in the top five.  Yes, he has won three races and is quickly making his way to the top but he’s not there yet.  In case you haven’t looked at the point standings in a while, the No. 29 of Kevin Harvick is sitting with a comfy 110-point lead over the defending champ.

It seems strange to me that the points leader is not the one getting a lot of attention right now.  True, we still have twenty five races left to go and anything can happen, but Harvick has been unwaveringly consistent this year. 

Only a few short weeks ago “Happy” netted his first points win since the 2007 Daytona 500 in his effort to set a championship run in motion.  His average finish after eleven races is 8.7, over 10 places better than last year’s finishing average.  If he keeps up this pace, he will be a contender for the 2010 chase, if not the championship.

Yet, even with his success this year and having eight top ten finishes with two of them being seconds (both to Jimmie Johnson), the media refuses to give him much camera time at all.  Is it because he hasn’t come back from an ACL surgery that was supposed to knock him out of championship contention for the rest of the season?  Or is there just not enough drama when it comes to one of NASCAR’s biggest pranksters?

Perhaps Happy Harvick enjoys quietly sitting atop the standings while the media hashes over Johnson and Hamlin.  But after a rocky 2009 season and sitting in the shadows for far too long, a little media attention to showcase his success would be nice.  Especially when we are going into a week of big events at the new Hall of Fame.  If you didn’t know, Harvick took over Dale Earnhardt’s spot after his untimely passing.

So no matter what the media tells you, don’t discount Harvick just because he’s not the feel good story of the month.  He’s worked hard to get to that number one spot and it’s going to be hard for the golden boy, Denny Hamlin, to take it from him.