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Twelve move on. Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blixen!

No, it's not "The Night Before Christmas." It's Round Two, the Contender Round, in the 10 races of the Chase. Chase XII. The Dozen Cousins are Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and, finally, the wonderful, the talented Kevin Harvick, that wacky winner in Dover.

Next up are the Bank of America 500, in which I have a small credit-card investment, at Charlotte Motor Speedway of Concord; the Hollywood Casino 400, because a casino behind the back straight is worth two races on the schedule, at Kansas Side of Kansas City Speedway; and the Alabama as Pronounced by Eli Gold 500 at Talladega Superduperspeedway.

Talladega, Alabama! I would accept Keith Jackson, too.

After those three spectacles, four more will be culled from the herd to provide an Ornate Eight, all duded up in tack, for Martinsville, Fort Worth and Phoenix, and the Sprint Cup champion will emerge grandiosely from the World War Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Even in Late November Sunshine State.

And Harvick lives! He had to win at Dover and did. He'd never won there before. It took 30 tries. His timing was the best.

Harvick had to win at Phoenix nearly a year ago. He did. Then he won the championship ... by winning. In all the time since, he's only won twice when he didn't have to.

It's reached a point where the question has changed from "how does he do it?" to "why doesn't he win every race?

I had a football teammate in high school who blocked three extra points during his career. Each time it saved the game. I always wondered if he could have blocked every extra point.

He had something in common with Kevin Harvick.