Harvick Finishes Disappointing 17th at Martinsville

Race Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

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

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

 

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-130):

● Harvick started sixth and finished 14th.  

● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, pitted on lap 62 for four tires, fuel and a chassis and tire pressure adjustment, saying the car was a bit too free.  

● On lap 107, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Said car was not taking off well.

 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 131-260):

● Harvick started 25th and finished 31st. 

● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, said the car lacks rear grip and won’t turn. Pitted on lap 136 for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Crew also removed rubber from the right rear spring.

● On lap 180, Harvick made contact with the 42 car driven by Matt Kenseth and his left rear tire was cut down. He had to pit for left side tires and fuel and ended up 32nd and two laps down.

● A caution came out three laps later and Harvick was able to take the wave around so he was only one lap down and in 31st.

● He pitted on lap 219 for right side tires and fuel, but did not get his lap back due to Timmy Hill being in the lucky dog spot. He was 31st, one lap down.

 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 261-500):

● Harvick started 30th and finished 17th. 

● Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang, pitted on lap 265 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.

● On lap 355, Harvick pitted for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. The car was not handling well and he was 24th, one lap down.

● On lap 406, Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel and the crew worked on the front bumper. When the caution came out, Harvick got his lap back and restarted 21st.

● Harvick pitted on lap 443 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. He was 16th.

● Harvick was one point out of the Championship 4 Round and made a desperation move to try and pass the car driven by Kyle Busch in the last corner. Busch’s car spun, but Harvick’s also spun into the SAFER Barrier on the inside retaining wall and he finished 17th.

 

Notes:

●  Chase Elliott won the Xfinity 500 to score his 10th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Martinsville. His margin of victory over second-place Ryan Blaney was 6.577 seconds.

●  There were 12 caution periods for a total of 83 laps.

●  Only 17 of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  This was only the sixth time this season Harvick has finished outside the top-15. His nine wins, 20 top-fives, 26 top-10s and 1,531 laps led are all series-bests in 2020.

 

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Yeah, we just weren’t good and everybody on our Mobil 1 Ford just kept battling to make it better and gave ourselves a shot there at the end. I tried to drive into the door of the 18 (Kyle Busch) to get that last point to make it and spun him out.  I don’t usually drive like that, but you’re trying to make it to the Championship 4 and doing everything you can. Just came up short. Just not the night we needed.”

                                                                                                                                                

Championship 4 Drivers:

1.      Chase Elliott (5,000 points)

2.      Joey Logano (5,000 points)

3.      Denny Hamlin (5,000 points)

4.      Brad Keselowski (5,000 points)

 

Failed to Advance to Championship 4:

5.      Kevin Harvick (4,157 points) -8 points

6.      Alex Bowman (4,137 points) -28 points

7.      Martin Truex Jr. (4,113 points) -52 points

8.      Kurt Busch (4,079 points) -86 points

 

Next Up:

The NASCAR Cup Series season finale is Sunday, Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway. The championship race starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

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