A Dominant Harvick Holds Off Keselowski for Michigan Cup Win

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

BROOKLYN, MI – RIS – Kevin Harvick came, saw and conquered the competition in the first of two NASCAR Cup races at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.  Joey Logano led the first 18 laps from the pole, but it was all Harvick, all of the time after that. It was not easy.  Even though he looked to have the best car, he had to do some work to make sure he won the race over a final sequence that was disrupted by numerous cautions. Harvick lost the lead to Chase Elliott on a restart with less than 20 scheduled laps to go and then to Kyle Busch on a restart with less than 10 scheduled laps to go. The race ended in overtime with a two-lap shootout.

In the battle for the lead, it appeared he had nudged Kyle Busch to get the lead, but a replay showed he did not.  Harvick was looking to the inside of Busch and his car slid up the track. If Busch and Harvick didn’t touch, there was millimeters of space between the cars.

“I just didn’t get loose and turn up to the wall by myself,” Busch said. So I don’t know whether he hit me or it was air.”

"I didn’t know if I hit him or not, but I saw the video and didn’t touch him,” Harvick said. I must have packed a bunch of air on his left rear. I knew I needed to be right there. You have to take the chance when you have it and I needed that side draft down the front straightaway. I got within like an inch it looked like on the video. I didn’t know if I had just barely touched him but in the video I definitely didn’t touch him.”

Harvick swept all three stages.

Typically, the final laps we chaotic.  A series of cautions happened at Lap 132 (J.H. Nemechek spin), Lap 144 (Ryan Preece incident), Lap 150 (Cole Custer spin), and  at Lap 155 (incident between Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, and Christopher Bell) slowed the field and led to a red flag and the overtime finish,

Martin Truex Jr. finished third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 were Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch.

The win is the fifth this season for Harvick in the NASCAR Cup Series, tying him with Denny Hamlin for most in the series. It was also his 54th career victory, tying him for 11th all-time with Hall of Famer Lee Petty.

“The restarts were obviously a handful but our (car) was really fast today and we held on for the long run and would really go on the short run and did everything we needed it to do," Harvick said. "We are a week-to-week team. We talked about this years ago. We want to go to the track and worry about one week at a time. We want to be competitive and win as many races as we can and see where it falls in the end. These guys are awesome and when we come to Michigan to ride a car like that is unbelievable.

"I have been very fortunate to work with some good teams and have some good race cars. When you start talking about names like Lee Petty and Rusty Wallace and Junior Johnson and all the names that are around us on that list is just an honor to be around them. I know that comes with a lot of responsibilities for our sport and I ask myself all the time if I have done enough or am doing enough to help make this sport go forward. It is an honor to be around those names.”

Saturday’s race was the first of two at Michigan and will be followed by a race on Sunday of the same distance. Both Michigan races were originally scheduled to be 400 miles but were shortened because of the doubleheader weekend NASCAR added to the schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Unofficial Results, Firekeepers Casino 400, Michigan International Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 3, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford, 161, 1, 1, 4, 92, 7, 60, Running
2) 5, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 161, 5, 5, , , , 47, Running
3) 12, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto-Owner's Insurance Toyota, 161, , , , , , 34, Running
4) 11, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford, 161, 3, 2, 1, 27, , 50, Running
5) 7, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Fudge Brownie Toyota, 161, 9, 6, 1, 4, , 39, Running
6) 2, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 161, 2, 3, 3, 10, , 48, Running
7) 8, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 161, 8, , 1, 9, , 33, Running
8) 1, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 161, , , 2, 18, , 29, Running
9) 24, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 10, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 161, 4, 7, , , , 38, Running
11) 23, Erik Jones, No. 20 STANLEY Toyota, 161, 6, 4, , , , 38, Running
12) 17, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Fueling Futures Chevrolet, 161, , 10, , , , 26, Running
13) 29, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Procore Toyota, 161, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 19, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 15, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 #FordStrong Technicians Ford, 161, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 4, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Hometown Originals Ford, 161, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 20, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 14, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 9, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 DEKALB Ford, 161, , 9, , , , 20, Running
20) 22, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 161, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 6, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.com/Adam's Polishes Chevrolet, 161, 7, 8, , , , 23, Running
22) 36, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Schluter Systems Ford, 161, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 34, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 37, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 Toyota, 161, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 35, Ryan Preece, No. 37 Honey Nut Cheerios Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 26, JJ Yeley(i), No. 27 Ford, 161, , , 1, 1, , 0, Running
27) 25, Quin Houff #, No. 00 CREEK Enterprises Inc. Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 13, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Coca-Cola Ford, 161, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 21, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Martin Transportation Systems Ford, 161, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 30, Reed Sorenson, No. 74 Fake Steak Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 18, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Mobility Service Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 32, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 161, 10, , , , , 6, Running
33) 38, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 SBC Contractors Inc. Toyota, 159, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 16, Cole Custer #, No. 41 HaasTooling.com/Jacob Co. Ford, 148, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 33, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Ford, 141, , , , , , 0, Steering
36) 31, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 Death Wish Coffee Ford, 127, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 27, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 Chevrolet, 125, , , , , , 1, Engine
38) 28, James Davison, No. 51 Ford, 103, , , , , , 1, Running
39) 39, * Joey Gase(i), No. 7 Wisconsin Lighting Labs Chevrolet, 58, , , , , , 0, Transmission
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 161 laps, 322 miles
Time of Race: 2 hr, 34 min, 55 sec
Average Speed: 124.712 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.284 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 4, 11, 12, 1, 2, 20, 88, 9, 18, 47

Stage 2 Top 10: 4, 12, 11, 20, 2, 18, 1, 88, 14, 48

Comments: Kevin Harvick won the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, his 54th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: Nos. 6, 17 (at-track penalty - spoiler), Nos. 7, 48 (multiple inspection failures)

Caution Flags: 9 for 43 laps;
Laps: 17-19 (Competition [66]);
42-47 (Stage 1 Conclusion [00]);
87-91 (Stage 2 Conclusion [27]);
94-98 (No. 17, 38 Incident Frontstretch [19]);
107-110 (No. 38 Spin Turn 4 [00]);
132-138 (No. 38 Incident Turn 3 [00]);
144-147 (No. 8, 37 Incident Turn 2 [74]);
150-153 (No. 41 Incident Turn 3 [Red: 00:05:45] [66]);
155-159 (No. 3, 6, 34, 95 Incident Turn 4 [66]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers;
J. Logano 1-14;
D. Hamlin 15;
J. Logano 16-19;
D. Hamlin 20-22;
K. Harvick 23-43;
D. Hamlin 44-49;
R. Blaney 50-76;
K. Harvick 77-106;
J. Yeley(i) 107;
K. Busch 108-111;
K. Harvick 112-138;
C. Elliott 139-147;
K. Harvick 148-161.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kevin Harvick, No. 4

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Christopher Bell, No. 95

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

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 2020, Issue 8, Posted 8:59 PM, 08.08.2020