Harvick repeats as the winner in Michigan race
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kevin Harvick is so confident in his talent and team that he doesn’t get excited when he wins.
“It’s more of an expectation,” Harvick said.
He raced to the 47th NASCAR Cup victory of his career and his second in less than a month Sunday, pulling away from the pack to win at Michigan International Speedway for the second straight year.
With three races before the playoffs, the timing of his latest strong performance might help him win a second championship. “Hopefully, we’re peaking at the right time,” he said.
Late in the race, the StewartHaas Racing driver created a cushion between his Ford and the competition and finished more than a second ahead of Denny Hamlin. Harvick averaged 149.084 mph over 200 laps on the 2mile track.
“Nothing I could really do,” said Hamlin, who drove a Toyotapowered car for Joe Gibbs Racing. “Didn’t have enough speed.”
Kyle Larson was third, more than 16 seconds behind Harvick. He was followed by Martin Truex Jr., Daniel Suarez and pointsleader Kyle Busch.
Seventime champion Jimmie Johnson will have to close the regular season strong to extend his streak of earning a spot in every postseason since the format was created 15 years ago. He started the race tied for the 16th and final spot in the playoffs and slipped to 18th. Johnson had an early setback, making contact with a wall on Lap 15 that damaged his right rear quarter panel and tire, and finished 34th.
Johnson was several laps back for much of the race, but got a break potentially in the playoff chase when Clint Bowyer was knocked out of the race after Paul Menard appeared to bump him. Bowyer began the day 15th in the playoff standings and finished 37th at MIS, putting him in 16th in the overall standings.
Newman, who started the day tied with Johnson in the playoff standings , was 12th in the 38car field, and that was good enough to move him up to 15th.
Polesitter Brad Keselowski was 19th, extending his winless streak to 21 at the track about 70 miles from his hometown. Keselowski led for a racehigh 66 laps, but a flat tire during the second stage was a setback he couldn’t overcome.