Kevin Harvick settled for second after being outfoxed by Sonoma Raceway winner Martin Truex Jr. in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.
Truex Jr. faked a trip down pit road on lap 73, a move that sent both Harvick and teammate Clint Bowyer to their pits. That allowed Truex Jr. to have an extra seven laps on new tires when he eventually came in for service.
Although disappointed with his eventual second place finish because of the circumstances, Harvick accepted the fact his team may have come up short in the strategy game but that it didn’t completely impact the outcome.
“It didn’t affect our day at all,” Harvick said. “I don’t think it would have been any different of an outcome.”
Harvick tipped his cap to the strength of the Furniture Row Racing team and the car Truex Jr. piloted to Victory Lane.
“Martin just had a little bit faster car than we did today,” Harvick explained. “At the beginning of the race, we could outrun him just a little bit, and as the second stage got over, we just started struggling with the brakes on our car, and when the brakes started not working as good getting into the corner, I started carrying more speed through the center of the corner, and then it started to burn the rear tires off on exit.
“Just kind of a few things compounded there to add up to a few things that didn’t work out to win the race today.”
