Harvick Finishes Fourth at Richmond

Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-100):

Kevin Harvick started first and finished fourth to collect seven bonus points.

● The No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang had two-second lead over Kurt Busch on lap 22.

● On lap 31, Kyle Busch overtook Harvick for the lead.

Harvick pitted under a competition caution for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure and chassis adjustment. He said the car was tight.

He restarted second but fell to fourth as the stage concluded.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 101-200):

Harvick started fourth and finished third to collect eight bonus points.

● The No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang pitted under caution on lap 105 for four tires, fuel and a chassis and tire pressure adjustment but said the car was still too tight.

● On lap 131, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment. He said the team was moving in the right direction, but that the car was still tight. He restarted in third.

 

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 201-400):

Harvick started third and finished fourth.

● The No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang pitted on lap 205 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.

● On lap 246, Harvick pitted under caution for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. He restarted fourth.

Harvick pitted on lap 319 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment, saying the car needed drive. He still ran in fourth.

● The No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang was in fourth place, six seconds behind leader Martin Truex Jr., with 50 laps to go. Harvick finished fourth, but just .932 of a second behind Truex.

 

Notes:

●  Harvick earned his fourth top-five and seventh top-10 of the season.

●  This was Harvick’s 15th top-five and 24th top-10 in 37 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond.

●  This was Harvick’s s third consecutive top-five at Richmond.

●  Harvick has finished in the top-five in all but three races at Richmond since joining SHR in 2014.

●  Harvick finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and third in Stage 2 to earn an additional eight bonus points.

●  Harvick led once for 30 laps to increase his laps-led total at Richmond to 1,139.

●  Martin Truex Jr. won the Richmond 400 to score his 20th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Richmond. His margin of victory over second-place Joey Logano was .178 of a second.

●  There were five caution periods for a total of 41 laps.

●  Only 16 of the 37 drivers in the Richmond 400 finished on the lead lap.

●  Kyle Busch remains the championship leader after Richmond with a 20-point advantage over second-place Logano.

 

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“I like nights like this when we can take a car that is a seventh- to ninth-place car and adjust on it and make it so it is capable of contending at the end. We ran those guys down, but we just ran out of time. I am proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford for hanging in there and fighting, and we had another good night on pit road. It was a solid night.”

 

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 28 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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