Harvick launches himself into next Chase round with Kansas win

Although the Toyotas appeared to be the class of the field at Kansas Speedway, it was Harvick in the closing stages of the Hollywood Casino 400 that captured the win and a guaranteed place in the Round of 8.

“Yeah, boys, great job,” Harvick said after taking the checkered flag for his second win at Kansas and the 35th Cup win of his career. “These races are hard to win and these guys are just so good at the details. You put their backs against the wall and they get better. I'm really proud of them.”

Harvick entered the race eight points below eighth-place in the Chase standings after his engine failed last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He's now seventh in the standings, three points ahead of eighth-place Joey Logano.

After he climbed from his car, the No. 4 crew chanted, "I believe that we will win."

"I try every week to find something to motivate myself and I know these guys do the same thing," Harvick said. "It's hard to keep yourself motivated and always perform at a high level. To be able to come out and do it for three years now says a lot about the character of this team and the things they do.

"It's like they say, everything that is really, really hard to get and come by, there are going to be be some obstacles in the way and some bumps in the road. I'm just really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Harvick took the point for the first time on Lap 125, led 74 laps — including the final 30 — and he crossed the finish line 1.183-seconds over Carl Edwards. Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five finishers.

Austin Dillon, who wasn’t a factor until the team used a two-tire pit strategy on Lap 225 to restart the race from the point, finished sixth followed by Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Matt Kenseth (who led a race-high 115 laps) and Kasey Kahne.

Johnson leads the standings by eight points over Kenseth.

The race was slowed by eight cautions, the last on Lap 233. Although Edwards had the point on the restart, Harvick executed a solid restart and completed the pass on the inside of the No. 19 exiting Turn 2.

"I got two really good restarts on the 19," Harvick said. "I was able to break that draft before I got to the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2 and get away from him. That was pretty awesome. That's really the mindset we've had going into every race in the Chase, to go for it, and that's what we did."

Drama for Chasers

Martin Truex Jr., was running in the top five until he experienced issues with his fueling apparatus after the first 100 laps. Truex was forced to make additional stops and was caught on pit road when the fourth caution came out and was forced to restart one lap down in 19th. Truex recovered with a 11th-place finish.

The Round of 12 wasn’t bullet proof at Kansas Speedway. Kurt Busch was the first driver to face adversity when he started the race from the rear of the field after wrecking his primary No. 41 Chevy in Happy Hour. Busch stayed on the track during the first caution to lead Lap 28. But his time up front was short-lived until the final third of the race when after multiple cautions he was able to work his way into the top 10. Busch finished 13th.

Denny Hamlin restarted fifth on Lap 31, but immediately dropped through the field. He was forced to pit again three laps later with what was diagnosed as a delaminated splitter that cut his right-front tire. A three-car accident between the Richard Petty Racing drivers Aric Almirola and Brian Scott and the No. 23 of David Ragan on Lap 36, enabled Hamlin to pit two more times for service and repair the issue. Hamlin restarted 34th and worked his way up into the top 10 before the fourth caution on Lap 115. Hamlin sustained slight nose damage after contact with Brad Keselowski, but a costly error in the pits, when a tire rolled out of the pit box, sent Hamlin to the rear of the field. Hamlin fought back for a 15th-place finish.

The most costly incident for a Chaser occurred on Lap 189 when Keselowski got loose coming out of Turn 4 and was hit by Hamlin, who couldn’t slow in time. The No. 2 Ford plowed through the front stretch grass, made a U-turn at the end of pit road and limped to the garage. Keselowski made an attempt to return to the race on Lap 219, dumped oil on the track and returned to the garage for a 38th-place finish — his first DNF in 2016.

Chase Elliott led four laps before the rookie had his first of multiple tire issues on Lap 175. He dropped off the lead lap in 24th. The crew told Elliott he had a fender rub. Elliott worked his way into the lucky dog on Lap 238, but seven laps later cut his left rear tire while running 22nd. He crawled around the apron, came in for service and finished 31st.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	267	3:01'55	74
2	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	267	1.183	61
3	22	Joey Logano	Ford	267	4.544	2
4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	267	5.135
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	267	6.943
6	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	267	7.322	2
7	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	267	9.724
8	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	267	10.753
9	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	267	10.874	116
10	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	267	11.369