Harvick Finishes Fifth at New Hampshire

Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-75):

Harvick started seventh and finished third, earning eight bonus points.

● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, pitted on lap 19 for four tires. Said car was a little tight.

● On lap 64, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and two rounds in the right rear. Harvick said the car just won’t turn.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 76-185):

Harvick started third and finished 19th

● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, pitted on lap 166 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. He was seventh.

 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 186-301):

Harvick started 26th and finished fifth.

● On lap 189, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.

● Harvick pitted on lap 197 for fuel only and a track bar adjustment.

● The No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang moved from outside the top-10 all the way to fifth.

 

Notes:

●  Brad Keselowski won the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 to score his 33rd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his second at New Hampshire. His margin of victory over second-place Denny Hamlin was 1.647 seconds.

●  This was Ford’s series-leading 11th NASCAR Cup Series win of the season and its 697th all-time Cup Series victory.

●  This was Ford’s 15th NASCAR Cup Series victory at New Hampshire and its third straight. Harvick won the past two races at New Hampshire (2018 and 2019).

●  There were 11 caution periods for a total of 52 laps.

●  Twenty of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  Harvick remains the championship leader after New Hampshire with an 81-point advantage over second-place Keselowski.

●  Harvick earned his series-leading 13th top-five and 17th top-10 of the season, and his 13th top-five and 21st top-10 in 37 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at New Hampshire.

●  This was Harvick’s seventh straight top-five and his eighth consecutive top-10. He finished 10th June 22 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, won June 27 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, finished second on June 28 in the series’ return to Pocono, won the July 5 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, finished fourth July 12 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, finished fifth July 19 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, and finished fourth last week at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.

●  This was Harvick’s third straight top-five at New Hampshire. He won in the series’ previous two visits to the track in 2018 and 2019.

●  Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only three finishes outside the top-five at New Hampshire. It’s a run that includes three victories (September 2016, July 2018 and July 2019).

●  Harvick’s 13 top-fives at New Hampshire are tied with Brad Keselowski for the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

●  Harvick has finished among the top-10 in 17 of the 20 races held this year. He has only one finish outside the top-15.

●  Harvick finished third in Stage 1 to earn eight bonus points.

●  Harvick led once for six laps to increase his laps-led total at New Hampshire to 765, second-most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

●  Harvick has now led 10,314 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 14,740 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

 

Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Kevin did a nice job. We didn’t get the late caution which usually happens here. We screwed up and made a bad decision worrying about tire sets. But we got another top-five and I’m proud of everyone on this Mobil 1 team.”

 

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is a doubleheader Aug. 8-9 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. The FireKeepers Casino 400 starts at 4 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 8 and the Consumers Energy 400 begins at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 9. Live coverage of both will be provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

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