Kyle Busch Holds Off Kevin Harvick for Texas Cup Race Win

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FORT WORTH, TX – RIS – In a battle between the two most successful drivers in 2018 competition, Kyle Busch was able to hold off Kevin Harvick to win the O’Reilly 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.  Harvick, after being penalized for too many men over the pit wall on a pit stop had to roar from behind.  He fell short by only three-tenths of a second.

“(Harvick) was probably just a tick faster overall, but I just had to make sure I did everything I could to hit all my marks and everything and did the right things to block his air and everything, but this Camry was really awesome today," Busch said in victory lane.

The win was Busch’s third victory at TMS, and was the 14th consecutive year that Busch has won in Monster Cup competition.

Harvick in the No. 4 Ford exited the pits and decided to take the outside lane for the restart after Ryan Newman brought out the caution for a blown tire on his Chevrolet with 31 laps to go.   When the race resumed, Busch, in the No. 18 Toyota lined up beside him with 23 laps to go.  Busch ran off to a three car-length lead with Harvick cutting into that lead each lap.  In the end, Busch was able to hold Harvick off.

After Harvick dominated the first stage of the race, Busch came back to win the second stage.  The final stage had a shaky beginning after a huge accident knocked out many of the favorites for the race.  Denny Hamlin got into Aric Almirola and caused a seven-car pileup that eliminated or damaged the cars of Brad Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman, and Paul Menard.  The red flag came out and the race was halted for 11 minutes for track cleanup.

“I shouldn’t have been in that position,” said Hamlin, who had a speeding penalty in the first stage. “The 18 [Kyle Busch] was falling back there. The 10 [Almirola] made a move inside. The 10 tried to squeeze. I got out of the gas and got loose underneath him.”

Others had problems.  Kyle Larson was making up for a bad start after having to start the race at the back of the field after failing pre-race inspection. That all changed on Lap 128 with Larson running second. He blew a right front tire and crashed hard into the Turn 2 wall, bringing out the third caution of the race. 

I was really tight for few laps,” Larson said. “I just needed to get by Joey [Logano] there, and I felt like I was one of the faster cars out there. I felt like we could have had a shot at the end of the race. It was cut short.”

I was really tight for few laps,” Larson said. “I just needed to get by Joey [Logano] there, and I felt like I was one of the faster cars out there. I felt like we could have had a shot at the end of the race. It was cut short.”

Just 81 laps into the race. Truex was running second to Harvick when his right front tire blew entering Turn 4.

The Truex wreck ended Stage 1 under caution with the second caution of the race.

“We just blew a right-front tire out of nowhere,” Truex said. “I’m not sure what happened – if we ran something over or what. I think the first set of tires that came off the tire looked great. We were just making our way towards the front. It would have been nice to have at least finished that first stage before it happened, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup teams head to Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Food City 500.  The forecast calls for the possibility of rain or snow,  something that has plagued the series all season.

Unofficial Race Results for the 22nd Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 - Sunday, April 8, 2018 Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Status, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts
1) 8, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 334, 2, 1, 59, Running, 4, 116, 6
2) 2, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Ford, 334, 1, , 45, Running, 3, 87, 1
3) 24, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet, 334, 7, , 38, Running, , , 
4) 21, Erik Jones, No. 20 Reser's Toyota, 334, 10, 4, 41, Running, 2, 64, 
5) 4, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Richmond The Water Heater Experts Ford, 334, , , 32, Running, , , 
6) 7, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 334, 4, 3, 46, Running, , , 
7) 1, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford, 334, 3, 2, 47, Running, 3, 40, 
8) 15, Darrell Wallace Jr.#, No. 43 Click n' Close Chevrolet, 334, , , 29, Running, , , 
9) 3, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Mobil 1/Rush Truck Centers Ford, 334, 6, 5, 39, Running, , , 
10) 33, William Byron #, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 334, , , 27, Running, 1, 1, 
11) 20, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 333, 9, 6, 33, Running, 1, 4, 
12) 13, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Performance Plus Ford, 333, , , 25, Running, , , 
13) 23, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 332, , , 24, Running, , , 
14) 27, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 332, , , 23, Running, , , 
15) 18, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 331, , , 22, Running, , , 
16) 30, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Can-Am/Wholey Ford, 329, , , 21, Running, , , 
17) 28, Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Procore Chevrolet, 328, , , 20, Running, , , 
18) 31, Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 LowT Center Chevrolet, 325, , , 0, Running, , , 
19) 34, Cole Whitt, No. 72 Rinnai Chevrolet, 324, , , 18, Running, , , 
20) 32, Gray Gaulding, No. 23 Earthwater Toyota, 322, , , 17, Running, , , 
21) 35, Landon Cassill, No. 00 USFRA.ORG Chevrolet, 321, , , 16, Running, , , 
22) 36, Harrison Rhodes, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet, 319, , , 15, Running, , , 
23) 29, David Ragan, No. 38 1000Bulbs.Com Ford, 317, , , 14, Running, , , 
24) 22, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 316, , , 13, Engine, , , 
25) 26, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 SunnyD Ford, 315, , 8, 15, Suspension, 1, 10, 
26) 17, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Symbicort Chevrolet, 304, , , 11, Running, , , 
27) 25, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Grainger Chevrolet, 303, , , 10, Accident, , , 
28) 16, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 294, , , 9, Running, , , 
29) 14, Daniel Suarez, No. 19 STANLEY Racing for a Miracle Toyota, 290, , , 8, Running, , , 
30) 19, Paul Menard, No. 21 Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 215, , , 7, Accident, , , 
31) 37, * Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, 209, , , 6, Overheating, , , 
32) 12, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 178, , 10, 6, Accident, , , 
33) 11, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 178, 8, 7, 11, Accident, , , 
34) 5, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, 177, , 9, 5, Accident, 1, 12, 
35) 9, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet, 175, , , 2, Accident, , , 
36) 10, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 126, 5, , 7, Accident, , , 
37) 6, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, 80, , , 1, Accident, , , 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Total Race Length - 334 Laps - 501 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 32 Mins, 07 Secs.
Average Speed: 141.714 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.300 
Race Comments: Kyle Busch won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, his 44th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 17 (backup car), No. 24 (engine change), No. 32 (transmissioon change) and No. 42 (failing pre-race inspection three times). Failed to Qualify: N/A
Caution Flags: 8 for 48 laps: Laps: 4-7 (No. 3, 19, 21 and 88 Incident in Turn 4 [None]); 82-90 (No. 78 Incident in Turn 4 [11]); 128-134 (No. 42 Incident in Turn 2 [24]); 172-177 (Stage 2 Conclusion [6]); 179-183 (2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 38 and 48 Incident in Turn 4 [Red: 11:05] [12]); 236-240 (No. 21 Incident in Turn 2 [43]); 251-255 (No. 6 and 95 Incident in Turn 4 [None]); 305-311 (No. 31 Incident on the frontstretch [1]).
Lead Changes: 16 among 8 drivers: Kurt Busch 0; K. Harvick 1-43; D. Hamlin 44-55; K. Harvick 56-86; Kyle Busch 87-116; K. Harvick 117-129; Kurt Busch 130-166; Kyle Busch 167-172; Kurt Busch 173; E. Jones 174-231; Kurt Busch 232-233; W. Byron # 234; E. Jones 235-240; Kyle Busch 241-290; C. Elliott 291-294; R. Stenhouse Jr. 295-304; Kyle Busch 305-334. American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kyle Busch, No. 18 
Fastest Lap: Kevin Harvick, No. 4 
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Toyota Racing Development (TRD), No. 18 
Moog Go the Extra Mile: Erik Jones, No. 20 crew chief Chris Gayle, 0.121 seconds
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Darrell Wallace Jr, No. 43