Harvick Salvages Top-10 Finish at Bristol

Race Winner: Kurt Busch of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)

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

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):

Kevin Harvick started sixth, finished second, collecting nine bonus points.

● The Jimmy John’s driver raced in the top-five until the competition caution on lap 60.

● The No. 4 Ford came to pit road for four tires, fuel and a small adjustment on lap 64 and came out in fourth.

● Harvick raced from fourth to second on the lap-66 restart and held the position the remainder of the stage.

● Harvick challenged for the lead in the closing laps of the stage and finished .003 of a second behind stage winner Ryan Blaney.

● He came to pit road for four tires and fuel at the conclusion of the stage and claimed the lead on pit road.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):

Started first, finished 21st.

● Harvick raced out front at the start of the stage before dropping back to third.

● The Jimmy John’s Ford reported a tire issue on lap 185 and was forced to make an unscheduled four-tire pit stop. The stop resulted in Harvick losing two laps to the leaders.

● Harvick narrowly avoided a wreck on lap 200 that brought out a caution. The No. 4 team took the wave-around to gain a lap back.

● The Jimmy John’s Ford remained a lap down the remainder of the stage.

 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 251-500):

Started 20th and finished 10th.

● Harvick raced his way up to the 17th position while remaining one lap down until staying out under caution on lap 442 to return to the lead lap.

● The No. 4 Ford restarted 15th on lap 445 and gained one position by the following caution on lap 472.

● Harvick brought the Jimmy John’s Ford to pit road for the final time on lap 474 for four tires and f

● The team restarted 13th on lap 477 and battled through a series of late-race cautions to capture a top-10 finish.

 

Notes:

● This was Harvick’s series-leading 20th top-10 finish of the season and his 19th top-10 finish in 36 career Cup Series starts at Bristol.

● Harvick finished second in Stage 1 by .003 to Blaney to earn nine bonus points.

● Harvick led twice for a total of eight laps to increase his laps-led total at Bristol to 884.

● Busch’s margin of victory over second-place Kyle Larson was .367 of a second.

● There were nine caution periods for a total of 70 laps.

● Only 15 of the 40 drivers in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race finished on the lead lap.

 

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Southern 500 on Sunday, Sept. 2 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The race starts at 6 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN beginning at 5 p.m.

 

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