Harvick Wins at Sonoma

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kevin Harvick won the Toyota/Save-Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Harvick led 24 of 110 laps, but he had to save some fuel over the final run to make it to victory lane.  Harvick thanked his team in victory lane for using a successful strategy to get their first win of the season.

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“Just really proud of everybody, they had a great strategy,” Harvick said.  “We were able to make it happen.”

Harvick won his first race with Ford on Sunday, after an offseason manufacturer switch for Stewart-Haas Racing saw them switch from Chevrolet to Ford.  Harvick said he’s happy to finally see his team’s hard work pay off with a victory.

“I want to thank everyone from…Stewart-Haas Racing for everything that they’ve done,” Harvick said.  “It’s been a lot of work…and it’s paying off.  We’ve been competitive, we just haven’t gotten to victory lane.”

“We’ve had a couple opportunities to get there, we just came up a little bit short.”

Harvick’s teammate Clint Bowyer finished second on Sunday after an eventful race.  His car, held together with duct tape, looked like it had no business running up front.  Bowyer said he and his team kept working through adversity at a track where he normally runs well.

“I tore the hell out of it, there’s no way around it,” Bowyer said.  “That’s road racing; you’ve got to keep digging no matter what.  You’re not down and out until you’re out.”

“To get a finish like that, you just can’t give up.  Things turned around there on that long run; that’s always my strong suit here.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Clint Bowyer

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Kyle Busch

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

7. Kurt Busch

8. Chase Elliott

9. Ryan Blaney

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Paul Menard

12. Joey Logano

13. Jimmie Johnson

14. Michael McDowell

15. Ryan Newman

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Danica Patrick

18. Austin Dillon

19. Chris Buescher

20. Matt Kenseth

21. Cole Whitt

22. Billy Johnson

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Kasey Kahne

25. Erik Jones

26. Kyle Larson

27. Trevor Bayne

28. Ty Dillon

29. Boris Said

30. Landon Cassill

31. David Ragan

32. Alon Day

33. Kevin O’Connell

34. Tommy Regan

35. AJ Allmendinger

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Martin Truex Jr.

38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images