One spot remains for title race
FORT WORTH, Texas — The timing was perfect for Kevin Harvick’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Texas Motor Speedway, and so was his winning pass.
Harvick went around the outside of Martin Truex Jr. for the lead on the 324th of 334 laps, then stayed in front the rest of the way Sunday to earn his championship shot in NASCAR’s finale Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Harvick, who had previously won five Xfinity Series races and a Camping World Truck Series race at the track. “Great to check that one off.”
Truex had led 107 laps and was still up front until his bobble on the backstretch that allowed Harvick to take the lead. But Truex, with a significant points lead and wins in three of the eight playoff races, also locked into one of the four spots to race for the championship.
“A little disappointed to come up short, but to clinch a spot in Miami is unbelievable,” Truex said. “Definitely got the job done today, and came here and did what we needed to.”
Kyle Busch had already clinched the first championship spot by winning the weekend before at Martinsville Speedway, so the results at Texas left only
one spot up for grabs among the five remaining playoff drivers next Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.
After doing a long burnout along the front stretch in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford, Harvick went to victory lane, where the Texas celebration was missing the traditional firing of six-shooters by the winner. Track officials bypassed the ritual after a man opened fire inside a church in a small community about 300 miles south of the track near San Antonio earlier Sunday. Authorities said the shooter killed more than 20 people and wounded at least 10 others before being killed or killing himself.
Denny Hamlin, another of the playoff contenders, finished third, while Brad Keselowski was fifth and Ryan Blaney sixth. Chase Elliott finished eighth, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson dealt with a loose car all day and finished 27th.
Keselowski dropped from third to fourth in points, 57 behind Truex. Hamlin is fifth in the standings, followed by Ryan Blaney, Elliott and Johnson, who has a record-tying seven season championships.
“I’d feel confident if we were locked in,” Keselowski said. “These races, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Elliott knows that feeling, having been in the lead and two laps shy of the checkered flag at Martinsville before getting wrecked by Hamlin. Instead of the possible win then that would have clinched a championship spot, he now likely has to win at Phoenix to advance.
“We are going to try our best, try to get a victory and go on to Homestead,” Elliott said.
Harvick felt good about his car all day, but he had to earn the win nonetheless. The 2014 Cup Series champion spent several laps chasing down Truex, and when he got behind the No. 78 Toyota, Harvick was eventually able to execute on a cue he had taken from watching Kyle Larson driving really deep into the oval’s first turn earlier in the race.
“I knew I needed to do something different in order to get past Martin. I tried to just start driving it in there, and we kept going faster and faster,” Harvick said. “I kept driving it in there, and one lap I got close enough to get the air off the back of his car. I actually got to the outside and was able to pass him on the outside.”
Johnson was only three points out of the top four coming into Sunday’s race, and he had won at Texas for the seventh time in the spring. But he had to make an early stop because of a vibration problem in the car.
“It was just a bad day,” he said, “that kept getting worse.”