Harvick Dominates Atlanta XFINITY Race

Photo Credit - LAT Photographic

HAMPTON, GA - RIS - Kevin Harvick did what Kevin Harvick does.  He dominated another race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  Today's NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was no difference.  Harvick led 141 of the 163 laps in his No. 98 Ford Mustang, and pulled away to large leads whenever there was a restart.  He went across the finish line 4.183 seconds ahead of second place Joey Logano.

HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Kevin Harvick renewed his mastery of Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday in the XFINIT Series race.  Harvick led 141 of 163 laps in his No. 98 Ford Mustang and ran away to hide for most of the afternoon.  Harvick collected his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Atlanta and the 47th of his career. He has won four of the last six events at the 1.54-mile track, where he also has won for four different car owners, tying Tony Stewart for the distinction of winning for four different owners at a single track.

Atlanta continues to be a special track for Harvick, who earned his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory here in 2001, after succeeding the late Dale Earnhardt in the Intimidator’s vaunted Richard Childress racing ride.

“It’s just been a really good place for me, obviously getting my first Cup win here,” Harvick said. “We’ve run good cars throughout the years, and the race track has stayed very similar to what it’s been for a number of years.

“And I think, as you look at the techniques and the things that I do in the car -- and they give me what I want in the car, as far as the feel -- it just applies here.”

Harvick’s Stewart-Haas cup team also pulled off a 14.4 second pit stop under NASCAR’s new rules that have reduced the size of the over-the-wall crew to five members. That same crew pits Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Cup car on Sundays.

“The good thing is they’ve had a lot of reps,” Harvick said. “We’ve had Clash reps, reps in the qualifying race, the Daytona 500, and they pitted on Saturday last week. They pitted on Saturday this week, and they’re just doing a really good job.

“Those guys are pretty athletic, and they practice hard and have done a great job over the last couple years of getting this car off pit road. As long as I don’t screw it up going too fast, they do really well making the pit stops.”

Behind first place Harvick and second place Logano, pole winner Christopher Bell ran third, followed by John Hunter Nemechek, who scored a fourth-place finish in his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut. Elliott Sadler (fifth), Justin Allgaier (sixth) and Austin Cindric (seventh) were the only other drivers on the lead lap when Harvick crossed the stripe for the last time.  Logano was very straightforward when asked if had anything for Harvick.

“I don’t think we were even close,” Logano said. “Kevin played with us all day long.”

The race had few dustups.  There were only four cautions that totaled only 21 laps.  A tap from Sadler turned Nemechek’s car into the No. 00 Ford of Custer, who nosed into the outside wall and damaged his machine beyond repair. One such driver was Cole Custer in the No. 00 Ford Mustang

“It looks like the 42 got out of shape, and then the 1 (Sadler) had a run, and he didn’t hit the brakes hard enough and he hit the 42, and the 42 hit me,” Custer said after viewing the replay.

“We just got collected in something, and there’s not much we could do. We had a pretty good car and was just kind of riding at that point, but, I don’t know. We’ll go on to the next one.”

“I’ve got to apologize to Cole Custer,” Nemechek said after climbing from his car. “I never meant to get into him off (turn) four there. I got tagged from behind.”

Race Results - Rannai 250

Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA - 1.54 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 163 Laps - 251.02 Miles

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 5 98 Kevin Harvick(i) Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 163 1 1 0 Running 4 141
2 2 22 Joey Logano(i) Discount Tire Ford 163 4 3 0 Running 4 10
3 1 20 Christopher Bell # Ruud Toyota 163 2 2 52 Running 1 12
4 3 42 John H. Nemechek Fire Alarm Services Inc. Chevrolet 163 33 Running
5 10 1 Elliott Sadler Cessna Chevrolet 163 7 4 43 Running
6 17 7 Justin Allgaier Rinnai Chevrolet 163 10 6 37 Running
7 9 12 Austin Cindric # Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford 163 8 7 37 Running
8 8 18 Kyle Benjamin PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Toyota 162 6 34 Running
9 15 11 Ryan Truex Bar Harbor/Sea Watch International Chevrolet 162 28 Running
10 12 16 Ryan Reed Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford 162 3 10 36 Running
11 6 21 Daniel Hemric South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet 162 9 28 Running
12 14 2 Matt Tifft Surface Sunscreen Chevrolet 162 25 Running
13 16 3 Ty Dillon(i) Red Kap/Alsco Chevrolet 162 9 8 0 Running
14 13 23 Spencer Gallagher Allegiant Chevrolet 162 23 Running
15 18 60 Chase Briscoe Ford Ford 162 22 Running
16 24 4 Ross Chastain teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 162 21 Running
17 7 19 Brandon Jones Menards/Jeld-Wen Toyota 161 20 Running
18 33 36 Alex Labbe # Can-Am/Wholey/Cyclops Gear Chevrolet 161 19 Running
19 11 9 Tyler Reddick # Nationwide Children's Hospital Chevrolet 161 5 5 30 Running
20 21 5 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 161 17 Running
21 28 28 Dylan Lupton thinQ Technology Partners Ford 160 16 Running
22 25 39 Ryan Sieg Georgia Metals Inc./Atlanta Compressor Chevrolet 160 15 Running
23 20 24 Kaz Grala # Marlow's Tavern Ford 159 14 Running
24 37 90 Josh Williams StarTron Chevrolet 159 13 Running
25 32 15 Garrett Smithley teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 159 12 Running
26 30 35 Joey Gase DonataLifeGeorgia.org/Sparks Chevrolet 159 11 Running
27 22 51 Jeremy Clements AllSouthElectric.com Chevrolet 158 10 Running
28 36 52 David Starr Striping Technology Chevrolet 158 9 Running
29 35 76 Spencer Boyd # Grunt Style Chevrolet 158 8 Running
30 23 78 BJ McLeod Densify Chevrolet 158 7 Running
31 39 01 Vinnie Miller # JAS Trucking Chevrolet 158 6 Running
32 38 55 Stephen Leicht Janiking Toyota 157 5 Running
33 26 8 Tommy Joe Martins Chevrolet 156 4 Running
34 29 66 Timmy Hill CrashClaimsR.Us Dodge 156 3 Running
35 34 40 Chad Finchum # Smithbilt Homes Toyota 155 2 Running
36 40 0 Matt Mills teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 154 1 Running
37 19 93 JJ Yeley RSS Racing Chevrolet 92 1 Engine
38 31 89 Morgan Shepherd Visone RV Chevrolet 49 1 Brakes
39 4 00 Cole Custer Haas Automation Ford 10 1 Accident
40 27 38 Jeff Green RSS Racing Chevrolet 5 1 Vibration
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 56 Mins, 09 Secs. Average Speed: 129.670 MPH Margin of Victory: 4.183 Seconds
98,20,16,22,9,18,1,12,3,7
98,20,22,1,9,7,12,3,21,16
Race Comments: Kevin Harvick won the Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his 47th NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: #23 and 89 (unapproved adjustments), #39 (tire change and missed driver intros).
Failed to Qualify: (2) 45 Josh Bilicki #, 74 Mike Harmon.
Caution Flags: 4 for 21 laps: Laps: 12-16 (#00, 1 and 42 Accident on the frontstretch. [None]); 37-39 (Debris in Turn 3 [5]); 42-47 (Stage 1 Conclusion [42]); 82-88 (Stage 2 Conclusion [36]).
Lead Changes: 9 among 3 drivers: C. Bell # 0; J. Logano(i) 1-4; C. Bell # 5-16; K. Harvick(i) 17-36; J. Logano(i) 37-39; K. Harvick(i) 40-82; J. Logano(i) 83; K. Harvick(i) 84-127; J. Logano(i) 128-129; K. Harvick(i) 130-163.
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Roush Yates Engines, #98 Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Kevin Harvick, #98
Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Christopher Bell, #20
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Mar. 3, 2018 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2018, Issue 2, Posted 9:11 PM, 02.24.2018