Harvick Dominates in Atlanta

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kevin Harvick won the Fold of Honor QuikTrip 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Harvick dominated the race and led 173 of 325 laps.  Harvick has been one of the best drivers at Atlanta in recent years, but he hasn’t been able to find victory lane since his first career victory in 2001.

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Harvick said he was excited to get back to victory lane after dominating the track over the years.

“For five years it’s been so fast at this particular race track,” Harvick said.  “I love racing here, and it’s good to be back in victory lane.  It took awhile.”

Harvick was the favorite as soon as cars unloaded on Friday, and most of the field was playing catch-up throughout the weekend.  Harvick said he was glad everyone knew they had a strong car.

“It was great getting into this car and knowing that everyone knew they had to beat our car,” Harvick said.  “This is a great start to getting ourselves in the playoffs and doing everything we needed to do.”

“There were so many demons that seemed to plague us here for a long time…I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to do that.”

Brad Keselowski finished second on Sunday, but he could never get close to Harvick over the final run to challenge for the win.  Keselowski said Harvick was in a league of his own.

“I was throwing everything I could throw at [Harvick] and it wasn’t enough,” Keselowski said.  “Kevin was in a league of his own, and he deserves a lot of credit for that.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Brad Keselowski

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Joey Logano

7. Kyle Busch

8. Kurt Busch

9. Kyle Larson

10. Chase Elliott

11. Erik Jones

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Aric Almirola

14. Austin Dillon

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Paul Menard

18. William Byron

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Alex Bowman

21. Kasey Kahne

22. Ryan Newman

23. David Ragan

24. Michael McDowell

25. Chris Buescher

26. Ty Dillon

27. Jimmie Johnson

28. Cole Whitt

29. AJ Allmendinger

30. Ross Chastain

31. Matt DiBenedetto

32. Darrell Wallace Jr.

33. Harrison Rhodes

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt

35. Trevor Bayne

36. Gray Gaulding Jr.

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