Harvick wins delayed Atlanta race
Keselowski finishes second in QuikTrip 500
HAMPTON, Ga. – It took 17 years for Kevin Harvick to conquer Atlanta Motor Speedway again. When he did, he smashed it.
Harvick dominated Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, winning at the fast 1.5-mile track for the first time since he scored his first Cup victory here in
2001.
That day 17 years ago was jammed with emotion as Harvick won after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., who died in the season-opening Daytona
500. After that win, Harvick took a victory lap showing three fingers on his hand to honor Earnhardt and his car number.
Harvick repeated that salute Sunday night after scoring again.
“To be able to do that and pay tribute to Dale was cool — been waiting a long time to do that,” Harvick said. “We’ve had so many days we could have done that. It’s good to be back in victory lane. Finally. It took a while.”
Harvick had led 911 laps at AMS in the past five years but couldn’t reach victory lane.
No one could catch him Sunday in one of the most dominant Cup performances in recent years.
Highlights of Sunday’s race, the second of the season:
Strategy vs. strategy: The final segment of the race developed into a tussle of strategies as the teams of Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano ran on a dif- ferent pit-stop sequence than the other leaders, attempting to use one fewer stop to give them a shot at beating faster cars. That didn’t work. An oval for the blue oval: Ford teams showed strength at AMS as Chevrolets struggled in the first non-restrictor plate outing for the new Camaro model. Ford teams won the race’s first two stages and led 144 of the first 170 laps. Chevrolet led 17 and Toyota nine during that stretch. Fords finished onetwo-three. Watching the skies: Rain in the track area threatened to end the race early with about 100 laps to go as Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch wrestled for the lead. Crew chiefs puzzled over when to pit as they watched the weather.
Stage two to Keselowski: Keselowski outran Busch to win the second stage on lap 170. Following were Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Harvick.
Johnson struggles: The first month of the season continues to be challenging for seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson. He slid through the second turn on lap 160 to produce the race’s third caution. His Chevrolet was off the pace during the race’s first stage, and he was lapped by leader Harvick on lap 83.