Harvick wins, Johnson’s run ends

INDIANAPOLIS — Kevin Harvick’s nearly flawless run Sunday ruined any chance of Jimmie Johnson executing his winandin playoff strategy.

A crash with 55 laps to go made it official: Johnson’s perfect postseason record is over.

On a day Harvick won the pole, led all but 42 laps and raced to his second Brickyard 400 victory, Johnson pulled his familiar No. 48 car through pit road and parked it in Gasoline Alley — without a playoff spot for the first time since NASCAR introduced the format in 2004.

“I think our car had good pace. Just these restarts are so crazy with this rules package,” the seventime Cup champion said after being released from the infield medical center. “Everybody’s trying to get everything they can and we came out on the bad side of the deal there in turn two.”

The result: Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman claimed the final two spots in the 16driver field, and Daniel Suarez fell four points short of becoming the first Mexicanborn driver to make the playoffs that begin next weekend in Las Vegas.

Harvick beat Joey Logano by 6.118 seconds.

Johnson wasn’t the only driver having trouble Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Defending race winner Brad Keselowski wound up climbing out of the cockpit on his knees after his car and Erik Jones’ touched, sending Keselowski sideways into a tire barrier. Neither driver was seriously injured. Twotime race winner Kyle Busch parked his car on pit road after blowing an engine.