Kevin Harvick dominates Stage 1 at Las Vegas
It was déjà vu all over again for Kevin Harvick in the first stage of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
A week after a dominating victory at Atlanta, Harvick got off to a similar start, taking the lead on Lap 2 and only relinquishing it during a round of green-flag pit stops as he claimed the Stage 1 victory and playoff point that comes with it.
"Well, when you look at the end of last year, that's where this has come from. Our bread and butter over the last five years really has been on the mile-and-half race tracks," Harvick said during the break. "W'ell see how the rest of it goes."
Martin Truex Jr. finished 4.8 seconds behind Harvick. Kyle Larson was third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Joey Logano fifth.
Rounding out the top 10: Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Paul Menard.
Blaney, the pole-winner, led the first lap but gave up the position to Harvick on the backstretch on Lap 2.
Harvick moved out to a more than 2-second lead and Truex powered into the runner-up position on Lap 24.
After 30 laps, Harvick held a 2.5-second lead over Truex. They were followed by Blaney, Kurt Busch and Larson.
On Lap 32, Harvick had already put rookie William Byron a lap down, in addition to Ty Dillon and Cole Custer, who was making his Cup series debut on Sunday. Two laps later, Harvick put Jimmie Johnson a lap down as well.
On Lap 37, a number of lead-lap cars began to make green-flag pit stops, including Truex, Logano, Daniel Suarez, Blaney. Harvick made his stop on Lap 39.
The cycle of stops were completed on Lap 51 and Harvick remained in the lead but his advantage over Truex had dropped to under a second. Byron was forced to pit a second time due to a vibration in his right-front tire.
By Lap 53, Harvick had pushed his advantage back to 1.4 seconds. On Lap 57, Harvick was back up by 2.4 seconds.
With 20 laps remaining in the stage, only 18 cars remained on the lead lap.
With 10 to go in the stage, Harvick’s advantage had ballooned to 5.2 seconds over Truex, followed by Larson, Blaney and Keselowski.
“Just so bad in traffic here,” Keselowski said over his team radio. “I can’t do anything.”
Before the race, Richard Petty Motorsports announced Josh Frankos, the front tire changer of the No. 43 Chevrolet team, suffered a hand injury Sunday morning preparing for the race.
Frankos was transported to a local medical center. Michael Hubert will tapped to replace Frankos on pit road.
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