KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Kevin Harvick certainly hasn't been perfect through the first three races in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup.
But he hasn't beaten himself, which may be even more important.
Harvick has used finishes of second, 12th and 10th to find himself in a tie with Carl Edwards at the top of the Chase standings entering Sunday's 1 p.m. Hollywood Casino 400.
"We're pretty relaxed and have not done anything spectacular or anything really stupid yet, so we are just kind of middle of the road, grinding away and that is really what you have to do at this point,'' said Harvick,driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
"I really feel like the second half of the races are better for our race team than the first half so we will just keep doing what we're doing.''
Harvick said a huge key early in the Chase is to not take yourself out of the hunt, something he has been able to avoid.
"I think you have seen a couple of guys totally shoot themselves in the foot and you can take yourself out of this thing pretty easy by making big mistakes or doing something that gets you a 30th-place finish,'' he said.
"If you can avoid those things you can keep yourself in it and I think that was one good thing about winning four races at the beginning of the year. It gave us a few extra points to have a little bit of cushion here at the beginning. (You've) just got to control the things that you can control and minimize the damage on the days when things aren't going well.''
Five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson climbed to fifth in points (13 off the lead) with last weekend's runner-up finish at Dover, Del. but Harvick, who finished a career-best third in last year's Chase, said that his focus in not on Johnson at this point.
""We have two battles right now,'' Harvick said. "One is against ourselves and the other is against the guys in second in points. That is the way we look at it.
"(We) don't care where Jimmie Johnson is, don't care where anyone else is. We are concerned about the No. 99 (Edwards) and what we have to do to beat that particular car right now.''
JOHNSON WANTS TARGET
Five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson is used to being chased, a position he likes and is his doing his best to be in again.
After last week's runner-up performance at Dover, Del. Johnson is fifth in points, but only 13 points behind Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.
"We're close,'' Johnson said. "We're 13 points away from being that guy and that's really what my goal is and that's where I want to be.
"I think people argue the point, is it good to be under the radar or be out in front? In a 10-race format if you're the guy setting the way and you continue to put distance between yourself and second, you gain an advantage at that point and that's the advantage I want to have.''
Johnson won at Kansas in 2008 and feels good about his chances on Sunday.
"I hope to get there (the lead) after this weekend or be even closer yet because people also do pay attention to the momentum you have and where you are going,'' he said. "If we can continue to close that gap I hope that we can find something positive out of that to send a message and keep things going.''
JUNIOR AIMING FOR PODIUM
Some drivers would prefer to avoid the media as much as possible, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has set that as his goal for Sunday's race.
"Being in the media center at the end of the deal is really good, being in the top three,'' said Earnhardt, who enters the weekend sitting 10th in points. "
Earnhardt is currently 34 points out of the lead but is cautiously optimistic that he can make up ground.
"Thirty-four positions, you can do that in a race, there's only 43 of us in a race,'' Earnhardt said. "With the right luck you can make it happen. We're going to have to run good to do that.
"We've had some pretty fast cars, some quick-enough cars to have some good finishes. I don't think it's over by no means.''
PATRICK IN NNS FIELD
Danica Patrick picked up her first-ever IndyCar Series pole at Kansas Speedway.
Now Patrick is back at the track, making her first appearance at the track in a stock car.
Patrick, who will compete full-time in the Nationwide Series in 2012 will drive the No. 7 GoDarry.com Chervolet in Saturday's 2:30 p.m. Kansas Lottery 300.
Patrick was fifth on the charts in Friday's final Nationwide practice.
