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Harvick snags victory from Truex in wild finish at Kansas

Kevin Harvick powered past Martin Truex Jr. with one of 267 laps remaining and held on for his fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season.

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Busch Light

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Busch Light

Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

Harvick, who started on the pole, lined up sixth on a restart with nine laps remaining and quickly moved into second with seven laps left. He moved around Truex with one to go and held on for the win in Saturday night’s KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway.

 

The win is Harvick’s second consecutive win and 42nd of his career.

"Man, that was a wild last few laps. I think as you look at the end of the race, I was really tight on the bottom so I just started driving it up top. I figured I'd either drive into the wall or win this race," Harvick said in Victory Lane.

"It started working and I made up a bunch of ground. I'm excited to be in Victory Lane, can't you tell? I was so pumped seeing those fans in the stands screaming and yelling. It came down to the restarts at the end.

"Man, that was a heck of a race."

Truex had swept both Kansas races last season.

Joey Logano finished third, Kyle Larson was fourth and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five.

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, Larson was the first off pit road and reclaimed the lead when the final stage went green on Lap 168. He was followed by Harvick and Ryan Blaney.

Shortly after the restart, Kyle Busch reported a vibration in his No. 18 Toyota and asked his team to let him know when he was in the fuel window.

With 80 laps remaining, Larson continued to hold a solid lead over Harvick, followed by Blaney, Logano and Kyle Busch.

Austin Dillon made a green-flag pit stops on Lap 200 but was penalized for a commitment line violation and had to make a pass-thru penalty.

With 55 laps remaining, several teams began green-flag pit stops as the fuel window opened to make it to the finish without having to stop again.

Once the stops cycled through, Larson returned to the lead with 42 to go in the race. He was followed by Blaney, Harvick, Logano and Kyle Busch.

With 31 to go, Daniel Suarez got into the wall and then made contact with Alex Bowman to bring out a caution – the first for an accident in the race.

All of the lead lap cars pit for fuel and tires, with Larson the first car off pit road and back into the lead when the race returned to green with 25 laps remaining. He was followed by Harvick and Blaney.

With 24 to go, Harvick powered past Larson back to the lead and Logano moved into second place behind him.

With 18 to go, Blaney got into the side of Larson, with Blaney hitting the wall while Larson’s left-rear tire got cut down. “What the (expletive) is he doing? He can only run me up so high,” Larson said over his team radio right after the incident.

During the pit stops, William Byron was the first off pit road, taking only two tires, but several cars remained on the track. Logano, who stayed out, inherited the lead on the restart with 15 laps to go.

Logano was followed by Truex, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Elliott. Byron was the first car off pit road with two tires and lined up seventh. Harvick was the first car with four new tires and restarted eighth.

Truex moved quickly into the lead on the restart.

On the next lap, a multi-car wreck erupted on the frontstretch when Byron got into Clint Bowyer in an incident that sent Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet on top of Newman’s No. 31. Also collected were Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Ty Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chris Buescher.

 

NASCAR immediately displayed the red flag to clear the track of debris. The race returned to yellow after a stoppage of more than 13 minutes.

On the restart with nine laps remaining, Truex led followed by Logano, Jones, Hamlin, Elliott and Harvick. Harvick had the newest tires of the group.

With seven laps remaining, Harvick moved into second behind Truex.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeLaps Led
1 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 267   79
2 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 267 0.390 13
3 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 267 2.090 6
4 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 267 2.410 101
5 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 267 3.593  
6 21 united_states Paul Menard  Ford 267 4.447  
7 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 267 4.725  
8 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 267 5.868  
9 10 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 267 5.912  
10 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 267 6.792  
11 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 267 8.478 10
12 9 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 267 9.099  
13 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 267 9.327  
14 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 267 10.288  
15 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 267 28.133  
16 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 266 1 lap  
17 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 266 1 lap 4
18 88 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 266 1 lap  
19 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 265 2 laps  
20 34 united_states Michael McDowell  Ford 265 2 laps  
21 95 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 264 3 laps  
22 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 263 4 laps  
23 43 united_states Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 262 5 laps  
24 72 united_states Corey Lajoie  Chevrolet 262 5 laps  
25 00 united_states Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 260 7 laps  
26 15 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 259 8 laps  
27 55 united_states Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 259 8 laps  
28 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 258 9 laps  
29 23 united_states Gray Gaulding  Toyota 257 10 laps  
30 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 253 14 laps  
31 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 252 15 laps  
32 66 united_states Timmy Hill  Toyota 253 14 laps  
33 24 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 252 15 laps  
34 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 251 16 laps  
35 51 united_states B.J. McLeod  Ford 251 16 laps  
36 6 united_states Matt Kenseth  Ford 250 17 laps  
37 12 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 247 20 laps 54
38 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 247 20 laps

 

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