Race Results | Photos | Standings
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kevin Harvick charged to the win in Saturday night’s KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway after coming from sixth on the final restart to score his fifth victory of the season.
The dramatic finish gave Harvick his 42nd career Cup Series victory.
“Man, that was a wild last few laps,” Harvick said. “I think as you look at the end of the race, I was really tight on the bottom so I just started driving it up top. I figured I’d either drive into the wall or win this race.”
“It started working and I made up a bunch of ground. I’m excited to be in Victory Lane, can’t you tell? I was so pumped seeing those fans in the stands screaming and yelling. It came down to the restarts at the end. Man, that was a heck of a race.”
Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
See Also: Larson’s Car to R&D Center
Paul Menard, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch completed the first 10 finishers.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series now heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for next Saturday night’s All-Star Race.
How Harvick Won: Harvick was sixth on what turned out to be the night’s final restart but charged to the front of the field at the drop of the green flag. He got to Truex Jr. and the two put on a furious battle for the lead until Harvick got by with one lap to go and went on to score his fifth win of the season.
Who Had a Good Day: Truex Jr. scored his Truex Jr. fifth top-two finish at Kansas, including the last three starts…Logano has finished in the top 10 in seven of the last eight races…Larson led a race-high 101 laps after starting in the back of the field from a qualifying lap spin and change of tires…Hamlin had his fifth top-five finish of the season.
Who Had a Bad Day: The dramatic finish was set up by a pair of late incidents. The first involved Larson and Ryan Blaney who made contact while racing for position. After starting second, Blaney was eliminated from the race and finished 37th (Read More). But a multi-car accident, which brought out the red flag, happened on lap 253 when William Byron got into Clint Bowyer to set off a chain reaction incident that also caught up Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Chris Buescher (Read More).
What Else Happened: The race was dominated by Harvick and Larson for the majority of the night. But things changed dramatically after the series of caution flags and accidents at the end of the evening. Restarts provided the opportunity for drivers to get three and sometimes four wide and it proved to be the opportunity Harvick needed to get to the front in the closing laps to put another win on the board.
Quotable: “It’s evident that the 4 (Harvick) has an unfair advantage,” Martin Truex Jr.
Notable: Menard matched his best finish of the year in sixth (Daytona)…Harvick won for the sixth time in his career after starting from the pole…Ford has won seven of the season’s first 12 races.
