MENCS: Kevin Harvick wins Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Kevin Harvick won Sunday’s regular season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

For Harvick, this marks his second win at the historic track.

Harvick, who started the race from the pole, led 118 laps of the 160 lap race and beat Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace late in the race to score the victory, which is his third of the season.

“This is great, just got to say thanks to all the fans,” Kevin Harvick told NBC post-race. “Can’t tell you how coming to Indianapolis meant to me as a kid. I watched Rick Mears win Indy 500’s and got to be around him as a kid and he was my hero. So coming here and winning here is pretty awesome.”

Driver No. 4 is running on some momentum thus far as he’s won three of the last seven races.

“I don’t know if we had the best car, but we had the fastest car,” Kevin Harvick told NBC in victory lane post-race. “We gave up the lead there on one of those restarts and then we came and pitted and the caution came out and it worked our way. We’ve given so many away just because of circumstances here, and the way that the caution flag fell today actually worked in our favor. It gave us control of the race and we were able to keep control of the race and not make any mistakes and here we are in victory lane at one of the greatest places on earth to race.”

Rounding out the top five were Joey Logano in second, Bubba Wallace in third, William Byron in fourth and Clint Bowyer in fifth.

Brad Keselowski was involved in a hard wreck along with Erik Jones with two laps to go in Stage 1.

Kyle Busch experienced his first DNF of the season when he suffered a mechanical issue with 13 laps to go in Stage 2.

Ryan Newman, who finished eighth, clinched the final playoff spot along with Clint Bowyer.

“It’s been a year of progress, a year of learning, a year of a lot of things. I’m more rookie this year than I’ve ever been. An ice cold Coke never tasted so good after these first 26 races,” Ryan Newman told NBC post-race.

Daniel Suarez, who finished 11th came just four points shy of the top 16 in the playoff standings.

Jimmie Johnson’s playoff chances came to an end when he was involved in a multi-car wreck on a restart with 55 laps to go. It was the 7-time champion’s first DNF of the season.

The NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs begins next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the running of the South Point 400 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN.

Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano

Stage 2 Winner: Kevin Harvick

Race Winner: Kevin Harvick

Matthew Jackson
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