After one round of the Chase, one thing is certain: Kevin Harvick is not holding the Golden Horseshoe. His latest bout with bad luck brings back memories of Wile E. Coyote and his quest to catch The Roadrunner . How many times can someone lay out the perfect plan, only to have it blow up in your face? Last Sunday, starts out on the pole, races like he’s on a rail, but Harvick busts a left front shock absorber, but somehow, he still manages to lead the field, and then…..wait for it…..he blows a left front tire. Harvick told ESPN “I knocked the inner valve stem out of the left front. A lug nut got in between the wheel and the brake rotor and knocked the valve stem out.”

What’s next? A bee gets stuck in his helmet? There’s bad luck and then there’s stupid bad luck. Maybe that squirrel that ran out in front of Harvick in Atlanta was really a black cat in a squirrel suit. In his televised post-race comments, Harvick quipped ““I was just handing out early Christmas presents to people for winning races that we should be winning.”

It’s one thing to languish among the back markers and get caught up in somebody else’s mess; you know its a risk you run if you qualify poorly, or get stuck in the back because of a penalty. Harvick’s brand of it is particularly surreal: he doesn’t wreck at New Hampshire, but gets beat on a re-start by Joey Logano. After winning the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland, Brad Keselowski comes charging through the middle of a battle between Harvick and wunderkind Kyle Larson to snag what once looked like another Kevin Harvick victory. To be oh-so-close to victory every week and come up just short is as frustrating as finishing 30th.

What you have to do if you’re Harvick or a Harvick is console yourself with the fact that short of a victory itself, you’re doing all the right things to get there. In other words, it’s better to be in the shoes of Kevin Harvick- and know you’re knocking on the door week in and week out- than to be in the position of a Kasey Kahne or a Denny Hamlin, where you’re dancing on the head of a pin to make it to the next round. If it truly is bad luck, it will pass.

In terms of those drivers who have demonstrated a week in and week out ability to seriously contend for a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, Kevin Harvick is on that short list that includes Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. If he keeps it up, the wins will come. In the meanwhile, we don’t suggest Kevin Harvick go skydiving or bungee jumping.