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Harvick claims second straight win in dominant performance at Las Vegas

Three races into the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season and Kevin Harvick has already equaled his win tally from 2017.

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford

Race winner Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford

Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Jimmy John's
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Jimmy John's
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Jimmy John's
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Jimmy John's
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Jimmy John's
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Caramel

Harvick claimed his second consecutive victory and the 39th of his career in a dominating performance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was also Harvick's 100th national series win.

“As you look at the last two weeks and our 1.5-mile program in general it has been really good since I started here at SHR. They put a lot of effort into everything we do from every standpoint to get these cars going like they are. I have to thank everyone from Stewart-Haas Racing, Gene and Tony, it is fun to have them here when we win," he said in Victory Lane. "Everybody who helps put this thing on the race track, we couldn’t do it without them. And the fans for coming out to the racetrack today. We really appreciate you all coming out. It is always fun for me to win on the west coast and I didn’t have a lot of luck here until I came to SHR. It is great to win on the west coast for me.”

At the end of the second stage, Joey Logano won the race off pit road while Harvick fell back to fourth after sweeping the stage wins. On the restart, it was Team Penske 1-2 with Ryan Blaney trailing Logano.

Harvick was forced to battle slower traffic for the first time since the beginning of the race and briefly fell to fifth.

Ten laps into the run, the first incident of the race claimed Jamie McMurray, who pounded the outside wall out of Turn 2. Ryan Newman was the free pass, putting 15 cars back on the lead lap.

All the leaders decided to pit with the exception of Martin Truex Jr., who controlled the race for the restart. Logano, who opted for two tires, was second.

Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott crash

Racing resumed with 85 laps to and Logano quickly moved into the lead as Truex dropped like a rock. But just one lap after the restart, Kurt Busch bobbled and shot up the track into the side of Chase Elliott. Both cars crashed into the outside wall and were out of the race.

During the extended yellow for clean-up, Truex made his way down pit road for fresh rubber. “Well that didn’t work,” radioed crew chief Cole Pearn.

“I was running the low groove and it just stepped out on me,” said a dejected Kurt Busch. “I wasn’t even trying to fill the whole or go 100%. I had it at 90% and I knew Chase (Elliott) was going to be on my outside and it was just that quick. We were back there in the dirty air, but turn four, I always know it is slick and I wasn’t even pushing through there and it stepped out on me. Ruined his day, ruined my day. I hate it for all the Chase Elliott fans and the Kurt Busch fans and my hometown fans. I wasn’t even pushing hard. I knew we had one more stop and then we were going to go. It just stepped out on me. It is ridiculous.”

“I think he just got loose on the bottom there and i was unfortunately the guy up top,” said Elliott after emerging from the infield care center.

Final run

The caution was a lucky break for Jimmie Johnson, who got back on the lead lap after falling two laps down earlier. Racing finally resumed with 73 laps to go with Logano leading Harvick, but the No. 4 quickly took back control of the race.

Harvick pulled built up a two-second advantage, cruising out front until the pit window open. Brad Keselowski was the first to make his way down pit road with 50 laps to go. Harvick followed suit with 42 laps to go while Kyle Busch and Truex held off on pitting until just under 40 to go.

As pit stops cycled through, Harvick was back out front with a 3.5 second lead over Keselowski.

Kyle Busch passed Blaney for third with 22 laps to go, disposing of Keselowski and taking over second one lap later. However, Harvick remained three seconds up the road.

Harvick beat Kyle Busch to the line by 2.9 seconds, leading 214 of 267 laps. He leaves LVMS as the championship leader, three points clear of Logano and four points clear of Blaney. 

Kyle Larson, Truex, Blaney, Keselowski, Logano, Erik Jones, Paul Menard, and Aric Almirola rounded out the top ten.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTime
1 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 267 --
2 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 267 2.906
3 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 267 13.304
4 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 267 15.166
5 12 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 267 16.715
6 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 267 18.562
7 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 267 20.582
8 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 267 20.898
9 21 united_states Paul Menard  Ford 267 26.848
10 10 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 266 -1
11 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 266 -1
12 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 266 -1
13 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 266 -1
14 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 265 -2
15 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 265 -2
16 88 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 265 -2
17 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 265 -2
18 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 265 -2
19 95 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 264 -3
20 6 united_states Trevor Bayne  Ford 264 -3
21 43 united_states Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 264 -3
22 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 264 -3
23 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 264 -3
24 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 264 -3
25 51 united_states Cole Custer  Chevrolet 264 -3
26 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 263 -4
27 24 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 263 -4
28 72 united_states Cole Whitt  Chevrolet 262 -5
29 15 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 262 -5
30 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 262 -5
31 00 united_states Jeffrey Earnhardt  Chevrolet 255 -12
32 55 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 253 -14
33 23 united_states Gray Gaulding  Toyota 195 -72
34 9 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 183 -84
35 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 183 -84
36 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 176 -91
37 34 united_states Michael McDowell  Ford 100 -167

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