Harvick denies Keselowski in OT at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kevin Harvick forced his way past Kyle Busch, then fended off hometown threat Brad Keselowski.

It takes a lot to beat Harvick these days — especially in Michigan.

Harvick raced to his fifth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season, outlasting Keselowski in overtime Saturday in the opener of a weekend doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway. Harvick now has four victories at Michigan, including three in the last three years. He’s been a big part of what is now a five-race winning streak for Ford at the Cup level at MIS.

“Just got challenged by a whole bunch of restarts at the end that made it kind of crazy,” Harvick said. “But in the end it was a great day for us. Everybody did a great job, called a great race, and we capitalized on a fast car and put it in Victory Lane.”

Keselowski was denied again in his home state. He’s never won a Cup race at Michigan, but he’ll have another chance Sunday. It would have been a tall order to overcome Harvick’s dominant No. 4 car on this day. Harvick also won the race’s first two stages.

“At no time did I think us or anybody else was better than the 4,” Keselowski said.

Martin Truex Jr. finished third, followed by Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch.

Busch remained winless on the year with five races left in the regular season.

For the first two stages, the only yellow flags were for a competition caution and the stage endings. Then there were six cautions in the final stage and even a brief red flag for track cleaning.

The race, normally a 200-lap, 400-mile affair, was scheduled for 156 laps this time. It went to overtime after Christopher Bell made contact with Austin Dillon to bring out the final caution.

Starting this weekend, NASCAR is incorporating the “choose rule” into the restart procedure for all national series races except those held on road courses and superspeedways. As drivers approach a designated spot, they must commit to the inside or outside lane for the restart.

“I think it definitely gave some guys a chance that were kind of buried eighth or ninth,” Harvick said.