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Kevin Harvick dominates in SHR 1-2 at Dover

Kevin Harvick’s fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series of the season is the first at Dover for Ford since the 2011 season.

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota lead the field to green
Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford takes the win

Following a 40-minute rain delay, Harvick passed Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the sixth and final time with 63 of 400 laps remaining and went on to a dominating victory in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

"Well, the first thing I need to do is thank everybody on my team, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, Roush Yates Engines, everybody from Ford - everyone who continues to put the effort that they do in these cars," Harvick said in Victory Lane. "Three cars in the top-five says a lot about where we are as a company.

"It's fun racing your teammate. That says a lot about our company and one of your good friends as well."

The win is Harvick’s fourth this season, 41st of his career and second at Dover (his first came in the 2015 season).

 

Harvick’s victory is the first at Dover by a Ford team since Matt Kenseth’s victory in this race seven years ago.

Daniel Suarez ended up a career-tying third, Martin Truex Jr. was fourth and Kurt Busch completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and pole-winner Kyle Larson.

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, Harvick was the first off pit road and remained in the lead when Stage 3 went green on Lap 249. He was followed by Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Bowyer and Johnson.

Cody Ware in the No. 51 Chevrolet wrecked on Lap 254 coming off Turn 4 to bring out a caution. Most of the lead-lap cars remained on the track but Johnson, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were among the drivers who elected to pit.

Harvick remained out front on the restart on Lap 260.

On Lap 270, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota fell off the pace and he had to wait several laps before he could make it down pit road. A caution was eventually displayed on Lap 272.

“Driveshaft, driveshaft, driveshaft’s gone,” Busch said over his team radio.

“Especially after restarts it was really, really bad,” Busch said after he took his car to the garage. “I was trying to ride it out and see if we’d make it to the end. At first I thought it was the engine, but it turned out to be the drivetrain.”

Most of the leaders pit during the caution as several drove through fluid that was dropped on the track by Busch. Keselowski was the first off pit road, thanks to a two-tire pit stop, but Stenhouse had pit under the previous caution and stayed out, leading on the restart on Lap 282.

With 115 laps to go, Bowyer moved up into the second position behind Stenhouse, with Logano, Truex and Harvick close behind.

Bowyer got around Stenhouse with 104 to go to take the lead for the first time in the race.

Rain delay

On Lap 315, a caution was displayed for rain. It had been drizzling for several minutes before it finally picked up and started wetting the track. On Lap 319, NASCAR had the cars come down pit road and displayed the red flag.

The race returned to yellow following a 41-minute stoppage of action and all of the lead-lap cars headed down pit road.

Bowyer was the first off pit road followed by Harvick, Truex, Suarez and Blaney. Keselowski had a slow pit stop and came off pit road in ninth. The race returned to green-flag conditions with 75 laps remaining.

Two laps later, Suarez moved into the third position, his highest position of the race to this point.

On Lap 338, Harvick got around Bowyer on the high side for the lead – the sixth time he’s led in the race.

With 50 laps remaining, Harvick had moved out to a nearly 3-second lead over Bowyer, with Suarez not far behind.

With 10 to go, Harvick’s advantage over Bowyer exceeded five seconds and ended up being 7.450 seconds at the finish.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeLaps Led
1 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 400   201
2 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 400 7.450 40
3 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 400 9.722  
4 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 400 10.192  
5 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 400 10.718  
6 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 400 11.375 108
7 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 400 15.195  
8 12 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 400 16.336  
9 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 400 17.138  
10 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 400 17.934 1
11 10 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 400 18.178  
12 9 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 400 22.766  
13 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 400 22.942 1
14 24 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 399 1 lap  
15 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 399 1 lap 24
16 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 399 1 lap  
17 95 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 399 1 lap  
18 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 399 1 lap  
19 6 united_states Trevor Bayne  Ford 398 2 laps  
20 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 398 2 laps  
21 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 397 3 laps  
22 34 united_states Michael McDowell  Ford 397 3 laps  
23 88 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 397 3 laps 26
24 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 396 4 laps  
25 43 united_states Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 396 4 laps  
26 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 395 5 laps  
27 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 395 5 laps  
28 15 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 393 7 laps  
29 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 392 8 laps  
30 23 united_states Gray Gaulding  Toyota 386 14 laps  
31 00 united_states Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 385 15 laps  
32 55 united_states Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 382 18 laps  
33 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 377 23 laps  
34 21 united_states Paul Menard  Ford 354 46 laps  
35 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 271 129 laps  
36 51 united_states Cody Ware  Ford 244 156 laps  
37 99 united_states Derrike Cope  Chevrolet 145 255 laps  
38 72 united_states Corey Lajoie  Chevrolet 20 380 laps  

 

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