Harvick continues domination into Stage 2 at Las Vegas

Harvick completed a sweep of the first two stages with another dominating performance on his way to the Stage 2 victory. He again led every green flag lap except during a round of green-flag pit stops on his way to another playoff point.

Truex won both stages on his way to a victory in this race one year ago.

Harvick is the first driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to win both stages of a race this season.

Blaney finished second, 5.3-seconds behind Harvick. Larson was third, Logano fourth and Kyle Busch had made his way to fifth.

Rounding out the Top 10: Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and Paul Menard.

Harvick continued to hold the lead as Stage 2 got underway as he was the first car off pit road following pit stops during the stage break.

Larson moved up to second, Logano third, Blaney fourth and Truex completed the top-five.

There was a slight delay before the second stage went green as Harvick and several other drivers complained about an excess of tire debris on the backstretch. “Still (expletive) everywhere,” he said over his radio. “Get the damn blower out and blow the track.”

It took less than three laps for Harvick to build up a more 1.2 second lead over Blaney. On Lap 96, there were 17 cars on the lead lap.

On Lap 98, the No. 34 Ford of Michael McDowell reported smoke in his car and thought he might have an engine issue.

“It’s down to two or three cylinders,” McDowell reported on Lap 100. On lap 102, McDowell took his No. 34 to the garage. “It’s not going to fix itself,” he said. “It’s gone.”

At the halfway point of Stage 2, Harvick held a 2.4-second advantage over Blaney. They were followed by Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Elliott.

On Lap 122, several teams began heading down pit road for another round of green flag pit stops as they once again decided to cut the 80-lap stage in half.

Hamlin was penalized during his pit stop or being too fast entering pit road. He had to make a pass-thru on pit road under green. He fell a lap down after serving his penalty.

The cycle of stops were completed on Lap 128 with Harvick still out front and with an almost 2-second lead over Logano. Blaney was third, Keselowski fourth and Larson fifth.

With 20 laps remaining in Stage 2, Harvick continued his run of dominance. Blaney had moved up to second, followed by Logano, Keselowski and Larson.