Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):
● Kevin Harvick started first and finished seventh and earned four bonus points.
● The No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang was very tight early on and Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment.
● Said car was just too tight the entire stage.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
● Kevin Harvick started fifth and finished sixth and earned five bonus points.
● The No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang pitted on lap 83 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment. The team put tape on the grill.
● On lap 101, Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel. Was in sixth-place.
● The cars handling was still not all that good.
● On lap 144, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. The car was still loose.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 161-267):
● Kevin Harvick started seventh and finished fourth.
● The No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang pitted on lap 167 for four tires, fuel and a tire pressure adjustment.
● On lap 197, Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel.
● Harvick pitted on lap 236 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Came in eight, and left in fifth.
● Harvick took the lead with less than 20 laps to go, but his handling faded toward the end and he finished fourth.
Notes:
● Denny Hamlin won the Super Start Batteries 400 to score his 42nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fifth of the season and his third at Kansas. His margin of victory over second-place Brad Keselowski was .510 of a second.
● There were 11 caution periods for a total of 47 laps.
● Only 18 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Harvick remains the championship leader after Kansas with a 97-point advantage over second-place Keselowski.
● Harvick earned his series-leading 12th top-five and 16th top-10 of the season, and his ninth top-five and 16th top-10 in 29 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas.
● This was Harvick’s sixth straight top-five and his seventh 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, and finished fifth last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
● This was Harvick’s second straight top-10 at Kansas. He finished ninth in the series’ previous visit to the track last October.
● Harvick has finished among the top-10 in 16 of the 19 races held this year. He has only one finish outside the top-15.
● Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top-15 at Kansas, and it was a 16th-place finish in October 2015. It’s a run that includes two victories (October 2016 and May 2018).
● Harvick’s nine top-fives at Kansas are tied with Jimmie Johnson for the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
● Harvick finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
● Harvick led twice for nine laps to increase his laps-led total at Kansas to 864, the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
● Harvick has now led 10,308 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 14,734 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We didn’t have a very good night with our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang. It just wouldn’t turn in the corners and it was dead sideways on the exit of the corner and I was able to have a couple of good restarts there and we got to the lead, but we just went dead sideways there after about four or five laps. So we were just holding on and hoping for another restart because we could run for a couple laps, but that was about it.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 on Sunday, Aug. 2 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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