Keselowski steals Atlanta win, Harvick caught speeding

HAMPTON, GA. — Kevin

Harvick was faster than everyone at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Too fast, it turned out. Harvick ruined a dominating performance by speeding on his final pit stop, allowing Brad Keselowski to steal a NASCAR Monster Energy Cup victory Sunday.

“I’m just snakebit here,” Harvick said. “But it’s my own doing.”

Harvick won the first two stages under NASCAR’s new race format and led a staggering 293 out of 325 laps overall.

But, after a late yellow came out when Austin

Dillon lost power, the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford eclipsed the 45 mph speed limit going into the pits.

“I thought I was being conservative,” Keselowski said. “I guess I wasn’t. I was just pushing it too hard.”

The ensuing drive-thru penalty pushed Kyle Larson to the lead, but he couldn’t hold off Keselowski, who surged ahead on the backstretch with six laps to go and cruised to a 0.564-second victory.

Harvick has led more laps than anyone each of the last three years, a total of 442 in all, but was never ahead when it mattered.

This mistake Sunday cost Stewart-Haas its second straight victory to start the season after Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500.

“I didn’t think I was pushing it,” Harvick told his crew over the radio. “I’m so sorry guys.”

Norman’s Bell wins Truck Series race

Christopher Bell held off Matt Crafton on a restart with two laps to go and completed a dominating win Saturday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Bell, a former sprint car driver from Norman, started from the pole, took the first two 40-lap stages and passed Crafton for the lead with 16 laps remaining.

The 22-year-old stretched the margin to more than 2 seconds, but Crafton caught a break when Grant Enfinger got into Austin Cindric going through the trioval, sending Cindric into a spin.

The incident brought out a yellow flag, setting up a green-white shootout to the checkered flag.

Crafton got a good jump on the outside and briefly stuck a nose in front going down the backstretch.

But Bell’s truck was simply too strong, allowing him to reclaim the lead and cruise to a 0.447-second victory, his third career Truck Series triumph.

“I was just trying to do everything I could to make sure I got a good restart,” Bell said. “It was really fast all weekend, just a dream machine.”