Six-pack for Harvick
Stewart-Haas driver wins another Cup race
LOUDON, N.H. – For a while Sunday, it looked like Martin Truex Jr., NASCAR’s Man of the Summer, would win again.
Then, for another while, Chase Elliott, the guy who has mastered the second-place finish, appeared to be on his way to that elusive first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Next up was Kurt Busch, one of a much-too-large group of experienced and talented drivers who haven’t won this year. He jumped to the front and looked to be on rails.
Then along came Aric Almirola, last seen almost winning the Daytona 500. He surged to the front and seemed ready to be dominant, but losing the lead on pit road and a poor restart handcuffed him.
Truex led 83 laps. Elliott 23. Kurt Busch 94. Almirola 42. None of those guys won.
And neither did Kyle Busch, who has become accustomed to having a lead late in races and keeping it. Not this time.
After all those pretenders, Kevin Harvick stood atop the high ground in the early-evening mist at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and, despite the rush of those other guys at the
front, no one should have been surprised.
Although Harvick, the schedule’s early-season stud with victories in three of the year’s first four races, hadn’t won in the past seven, it wasn’t like he was wandering in the desert during those weeks. During that “drought,” he had a pair of second places, a third, a fourth and a fifth.
It was only logical that Harvick would find victory lane again soon, and he responded Sunday in the Foxwoods Casino Resort 301, whose start was delayed by rain.
Over the twilight laps, Kyle Busch was poised to get win No. 6. His crew had taken a car that wasn’t a winner for much of the day and turned it into a contender. He led 36 consecutive laps in the final stage, but Harvick was in his shadow.
There seemed little chance that Busch, whose car wasn’t as good as its driver, could hold off Harvick indefinitely. With six laps to go, Harvick bumped him from the lead and sped past on the inside to take the lead for good.
Harvick appeared fast enough to make the pass without contact, but Busch was in the fast lane, and Harvick made the move Busch probably was expecting.
“I just didn’t know if I was gonna get there at the end, and I felt like that was my best opportunity to do what I had to do to win,” Harvick said. “I didn’t want to wreck him, but I didn’t want to waste a bunch of time behind him.
“I felt like my car was better. He was in the lane I needed to be in.”
It wasn’t a violent hit, but it was strong enough to push Busch up the track and not into the wall. He never fully recovered, and Harvick won by 1.87 seconds.
“It was just a matter of time,” Busch said. “Those Stewart-Haas cars are really fast. There was a little bumping and banging. Rubbing’s racing. We go on to next week.”