Harvick Finishes Eighth in Las Vegas

Race Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):

Kevin Harvick started third and finished third and earned eight bonus points.

● The Busch Light Ford Mustang led twice for 59 laps but faded back at the end of the stage.

● Harvick pitted on lap 27 under caution for four tires, fuel and track bar and tire pressure adjustment, saying the car was quite loose.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):

Started third and finished sixth and earned five bonus points.

● The Busch Light Ford Mustang pitted for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment on lap 83.

● On the restart, Harvick moved from third to first on the restart and held the point until he was passed by Chase Elliott.

● On lap 121, Harvick was fifth and pitted for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.

 

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 161-267):

Started fifth and finished eighth.

● The Busch Light Ford Mustang pitted on lap 164 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.

● On lap 217, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.

● With less than 40 laps to go, Harvick was in second and was stalking Joey Logano for the lead.

● A caution came out with six laps to go with Harvick in fifth place. He decided to pit for four tires and fuel, but several cars stayed out or took on two tires.

● Despite restarting outside the top-10 with two laps to go, Harvick was working his way up and making moves until a caution came out just after the white flag. Harvick finished eighth.

 

Notes:

● Harvick earned his second top-10 of the season and his 11th top-10 in 22 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.

● This is Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished fifth in the season-opening Daytona 500 last Sunday.

● Harvick’s 11 top-10s at Las Vegas are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

● This is Harvick’s third straight top-10 at Las Vegas. He was the runner-up in the series’ most recent visit to the track last September.

● Harvick has finished in the top-10 at Las Vegas all but three times since joining SHR in 2014.

● Harvick led five times for a race-high 92 laps to increase his laps-led total at Las Vegas to 679, the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

● Joey Logano won the Las Vegas 400 to score his 24th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his second at Las Vegas. He beat second-place Matt DiBenedetto as the race ended under caution.

● This was Ford’s series-leading 13th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Las Vegas and its 687th all-time NASCAR Cup Series win.

● There were nine caution periods for a total of 37 laps.

● Twenty-four of the 38 drivers in the Las Vegas 400 finished on the lead lap.

● Ryan Blaney leaves Las Vegas as the championship leader with a three-point advantage over second-place Logano.

 

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

“The caution really decided that. I think there would have been some of us that got back close to the lead by the time we got off of turn four. I don’t even know where we restarted, but we were seventh or so going into turn one on the last lap with a big head of steam, and the caution came out. Our Busch Light Ford was really good on the short runs. We just kind of lost the handling as we would get deep in those runs and that kind of hurt us. It came down to what we wanted there at the end, but we just got too far back.”

 

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Auto Club 400 on Sunday, March 1, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

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