Kevin Harvick took the lead after the Hollywood Casino 400’s final re-start at Kansas Speedway. Then, the veteran driver outran Joe Gibbs Racing’s Carl Edwards to lock up his spot in the next round of the Chase at Kansas Speedway.
Kevin Harvick was one of the quickest in the final qualifying session, and stayed near the front all day. Unfortunately, other Chase contenders continued to have issues around him. Harvick was still towards the front when Regan Smith brought out the last yellow flag of the Hollywood Casino 400. Nevertheless, the freaky fast racer and able to keep Carl Edwards in his rear view mirror over the final 30 revolutions.
Stewart/Hass Racing’s Kevin Harvick found himself in deep trouble after his hot-rod displayed electrical trouble at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The untimely problems left him in 38th at the end of last week’s event. As a result, Harvick sat eight points out of the eighth and final position in the playoffs.
With Sunday’s victory, he joined Jimmie Johnson, the winner last weekend at Charlotte, in the Round of Eight. Now, pressure is on the rest of the Chase field heading into the next high-speed race at Talladega.
“These races are hard to win, but these guys are just so good at the details,” said Kevin Harvick, who also won elimination races at Phoenix during his championship season in 2014 and at Dover last year. “You put their backs against the wall, and they get better. I’m also really proud of them.”
“I just got two good restarts against the No. 19 (Carl Edwards). Unfortunately, he didn’t have a car quite as close to him. I was also able to break that draft before I got to the middle of one and two and get away from him, so that was pretty awesome. I just needed to go for it, and that’s really the mind-set we go into every race in the Chase (with) — to go for, and we did.”said Kevin Harvick.
Roger Penske’s Joey Logano came in third. He was followed by Jimmie Johnson in fourth. Fellow Chase driver Kyle Busch rounded out the top five in the fifth spot. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon came in sixth and pole-sitter Matt Kenseth was ninth after dominating the first half of the contest.
Other speedsters competing in the playoffs dealt with trouble all afternoon. Martin Truex Jr. was out front again in the Hollywood Casino 400, but had trouble with the refueling mechanism that forced him to pit out again under green. The Furniture Row racer ended his day in 11th because of his problems.
Kevin Harvick’s teammate Kurt Busch, finished two spots back in 13th place after competing in his back-up car following a spin into the infield during the final practice on Saturday.
Denny Hamlin had problems with the splitter on the front of his hot-rod on Sunday. The Toyota’s splitter creates down-force, allowing his car to stay low to the surface of the track.
Denny Hamlin was also forced into the pits for repairs to his #11 Fed Ex Toyota. To make matters worse, he was also penalized for a loose tire on pit road. Nevertheless, the savvy driver rallied to finish in 15th on Sunday.
The biggest losers in the Hollywood Casino 400 were Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott. Keselowski got his car loose with 78 circuits left, and Hamlin tapped him from behind and sent him spinning into the infield grass.
Brad Keselowski slammed the grass so hard that the whole front of his machine was wrecked. The damage was to extensive, and he finished out his afternoon in 38th. The Penske driver now sits seven points out of the eighth and final spot in the Chase.
“I spun and got in the grass and tore the nose off,” Keselowski said. “I probably could have raced less hard with a big points gap coming in. With this format, it’s probably the smart thing to do, but I don’t want to race like that. “I also wanted to race my guts out and go for wins. I don’t want to points-race. We don’t care what the damn format is — I’m going to give it my best.”
Hendrick Motorsport’s Chase Elliott also had trouble with his left rear tire rubbing on his fender. The crinkle in his front piece put him a lap down early in the race and then forced another unscheduled stop later. Elliott wound up 31st and is now 25 points out of the final spot in the round of eight with Talladega Super Speedway up next.
Final Results for the Kansas lottery 400 at Kansas Speedway:
1. (11) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267.
2. (3) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 267.
3. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
4. (21) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267.
5. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267.
6. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
7. (5) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
8. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.
9. (1) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 267.
10. (20) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 267.
11. (4) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
12. (9) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 267.
13. (15) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
14. (17) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
15. (7) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
16. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 267.
17. (25) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 267.
18. (19) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 267.
19. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 267.
20. (16) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 267.
21. (30) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
22. (33) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 267.
23. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 267.
24. (27) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 267.
25. (22) Greg Biffle, Ford, 266.
26. (31) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 266.
27. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 266.
28. (32) Brian Scott, Ford, 265.
29. (26) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 265.
30. (24) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 265.
31. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 264.
32. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 264.
33. (36) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 262.
34. (39) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 261.
35. (38) Joey Gase, Ford, 260.
36. (28) David Ragan, Toyota, 258.
37. (23) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 233.
38. (8) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 190.
39. (40) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Accident, 108.
40. (35) Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 36.
Race Statistics:
Average Speed of Race Winner: 133.155 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 00 Mins, 28 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.183 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 38 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 10 drivers.
