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Atlanta NASCAR: Kevin Harvick dominates for Stewart-Haas

Kevin Harvick dominated a rain-delayed NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Stewart-Haas Racing, despite dropping to 19th early on after a troubled pitstop

Harvick was a step ahead of his rivals on track throughout the race, taking a clear win in the first stage.

In the pitstop ahead of stage two, Harvick ran into wheelgun problems and had to make an additional stop that dropped him to 19th.

But within 36 laps he had made his way back through the field to retake the lead.

With the rain that had delayed the start looming again in the closing laps, Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin and Penske driver Joey Logano opted to make one pitstop fewer than most in the hope of cycling to the front as others stopped and benefiting if the race was truncated early.

That brought them up to third and fourth behind Harvick and stage two winner Brad Keselowski when Trevor Bayne's engine blew and brought out a late caution with 28 laps to go.

Harvick was able to stay in control after the restart and win ahead of Penske driver Keselowski, while Harvick's team-mate Clint Bowyer completed a Ford 1-2-3 and SHR one-three with late progress to third.

Hamlin and Logano ended up fourth and sixth, sandwiching reigning champion Martin Truex Jr - who had come up from the tail of the field following multiple failures to clear NASCAR's new technical inspection process ahead of qualifying on Friday.

Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon also had to start to the back after pre-race component changes, and had a quiet run to 14th.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 325 3h29m54.s
2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 325 2.690s
3 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 325 3.162s
4 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 325 6.760s
5 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 325 7.554s
6 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 325 7.959s
7 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 325 8.170s
8 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 325 9.419s
9 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 325 12.549s
10 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 s
11 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 325 s
12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 325 s
13 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 325 s
14 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 324 1 Lap
15 Daniel Suarez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 324 1 Lap
16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 324 1 Lap
17 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 324 1 Lap
18 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 323 2 Laps
19 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 323 2 Laps
20 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 322 3 Laps
21 Kasey Kahne Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 322 3 Laps
22 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 322 3 Laps
23 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 321 4 Laps
24 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 321 4 Laps
25 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 321 4 Laps
26 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 321 4 Laps
27 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 321 4 Laps
28 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 320 5 Laps
29 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 320 5 Laps
30 Ross Chastain Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 319 6 Laps
31 Matt DiBenedetto Go FAS Racing Ford 319 6 Laps
32 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 319 6 Laps
33 Harrison Rhodes Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 310 15 Laps
34 Jeffrey Earnhardt StarCom Racing Chevrolet 305 20 Laps
35 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 292 Engine
36 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 99 Steering

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Joey Logano 89
2 Ryan Blaney 83
3 Denny Hamlin 77
4 Kevin Harvick 75
5 Clint Bowyer 74
6 Austin Dillon 70
7 Martin Truex Jr. 69
8 Kurt Busch 68
9 Paul Menard 66
10 Aric Almirola 66
11 Kyle Busch 61
12 Brad Keselowski 58
13 Kyle Larson 54
14 Darrell Wallace Jr. 52
15 Michael McDowell 52
16 Ryan Newman 49
17 Alex Bowman 46
18 Chris Buescher 45
19 Chase Elliott 44
20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 43
21 Jamie McMurray 41
22 A.J. Allmendinger 36
23 Erik Jones 35
24 Trevor Bayne 33
25 William Byron 33
26 Daniel Suarez 27
27 David Ragan 25
28 Kasey Kahne 19
28 Jeffrey Earnhardt 19
30 Gray Gaulding 18
31 Matt DiBenedetto 16
32 Mark Thompson 15
33 D.J. Kennington 13
34 Ty Dillon 12
35 Jimmie Johnson 11
36 Cole Whitt 9
37 Harrison Rhodes 4
38 Danica Patrick 2
39 Corey LaJoie 1


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