Harvick wins his way into the second round of the Chase

The Toyotas dominated the Bad Boy Off Road 300 on Sunday by leading 280 laps. But a power move by Harvick on the final restart with five laps remaining, put the No. 4 ditch Chevy into the lead — and in Victory Lane.

“Yeah, way to go guys, awesome job,” Harvick told the team after taking the checkered flag.

Harvick’s 34 career Cup win also earned the 2014 NASCAR champion an automatic transfer spot into the second round of the Chase.

Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five finishers.

Carl Edwards, who finished sixth, started from the pole and led the first 30 laps. Martin Truex Jr. took the on Lap 31. With the exception of green flag pit stops, Truex Jr. and Kenseth’s Toyotas traded time at the point leading 146 of the first 295 laps.

Although Harvick started 19th, he battled his way into the top 10 in the first 45 laps. Two late race cautions over the final 15 laps, bunched up the field and placed Harvick in striking distance. On lap 285, Harvick, who was running fourth was able to move up to third for the final restart. Kenseth had the lead but Harvick pushed the issue on the inside as the field followed on the backstretch and extended his advantage to 0.442-seconds at the line.

“The car was pretty good on the restarts,” Harvick said. “Once we got clean air there at the end, it wound up being really good up front. I’m just really proud of our team. They did a great job.

“I’m just excited. I was content with where we were. But, once you get up there in the front like that, you’ve got to take a chance to try to win.”

Truex, who led a race-high 141, lapped half of the field before the first third of the race was in the books. Although he finished seventh, Truex told the team after the race, “The best car I ever had. I appreciate that guys. It just didn’t work out the way it needed to.”

The Chevys of Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Larson rounded out the top 10. Kahne came from the rear of the field for a pre-race adjustment to the car involving the change of the track bar motor.

Keselowski leads the standings with a one-point advantage over Truex. Kyle Busch, Kenseth and Joey Logano, who came from two laps down to finish 11th, comprise the top five. Harvick moved up eight positions in the points with the win.

“Yeah, that was a game of inches last week,” said Harvick, after being forced a lap down on pit road at Chicagoland Speedway and finishing 20th. “We wound up getting a lap down there and I had a good car. I had a fifth of sixth place car, and just wound up not being where we needed to be. But all in all, we wound up where we should have been last year, this year.”

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	300	2:54'15	8
2	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	300	0.443	105
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	300	1.731	3
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	300	2.159	2
5	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	300	2.600
6	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	300	3.057	31
7	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	300	3.271	141
8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	300	3.836
9	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	300	4.629
10	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	300	5.195