Sunday, May 13, 2018

Harvick's Dominance Continues with Kansas Victory

Originally written for CLNS Media.


Kevin Harvick won the KC Masterpiece 400 from Kansas Speedway on Saturday night.

Harvick led 79 laps on his way to victory lane on Sunday to continue his dominant season.  The victory was Harvick’s fifth in just 12 races this season.
Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Even after running up front for most of the race, Harvick said his car struggled with handling.

“Wasn’t really happy with it,” Harvick said.  “I think we can make it a lot better when we come back.”

Harvick restarted sixth on the final restart with 10 laps to go, but he was able to run down Martin Truex Jr. to take the lead with two laps to go.  Harvick said he knew he would have to change his racing line if he wanted a shot at Truex.

“I was tight on the bottom, so I just started driving it up top,” Harvick said.  “I was either going to drive it into the wall or win this race.”

Truex didn’t run up front throughout the day, but a strategy call by crew chief Cole Pearn got him to the lead late.  Truex said his team overachieved on a night when the car’s handling wasn’t very good.

“Good strategy call by Cole, just…a hell of an effort by our team,” Truex said.  “We definitely had to fight hard, we were awful to start the race.  We definitely over-achieved, so that’s always good.”

Unofficial results:
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Kyle Larson
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Paul Menard
7. Erik Jones
8. Kurt Busch
9. Aric Almirola
10. Kyle Busch
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. Chase Elliott
13. David Ragan
14. Brad Keselowski
15. Clint Bowyer
16. AJ Allmendinger
17. Austin Dillon
18. Alex Bowman
19. Jimmie Johnson
20. Michael McDowell
21. Kasey Kahne
22. Matt DiBenedetto
23. Darrell Wallace Jr.
24. Corey LaJoie
25. Landon Cassill
26. Ross Chastain
27. Reed Sorenson
28. Daniel Suarez
29. Gray Gaulding
30. Ryan Newman
31. Jamie McMurray
32. Timmy Hill
33. William Byron
34. Chris Buescher
35. BJ McLeod
36. Matt Kenseth
37. Ryan Blaney
38. Ty Dillon

Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

No comments:

Post a Comment