Bristol NASCAR Sprint Cup: Kevin Harvick wins wild, delayed race
Kevin Harvick took his second NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season in a frantic and rain interrupted race weekend at Bristol
The Stewart-Haas driver led 128 of the 500 laps and kept Denny Hamlin behind at the last restart with 50 laps to go after light precipitation caused a final pause in an event that finished just over 24 hours after its originally scheduled start.
After an early pitlane speeding penalty, Joe Gibbs Racing's Hamlin had fought back from two laps down via a free pass and found himself inside the top three after taking two tyres at the eighth caution.
But he finished third behind Roush Fenway's Ricky Stenhouse Jr, who had made up ground in identical circumstances.
Friday's Xfinity series winner Austin Dillon challenged for the lead initially at the final restart but he slipped back to fourth as his Chevrolet could not hold off the quicker Ford and Toyota cars late on.
Surprise Pocono victor Chris Buescher took advantage of attrition to brilliantly finish fifth, placing himself in the top 30 in the championship and the Chase in the process.
Saturday's running was postponed due to adverse weather conditions and after a further rain delay of three hours from the planned restart time, JGR's Kyle Busch looked dominant on the Sunday and led 256 laps.
But the way was paved for second placed Harvick when Busch's right rear shock snapped at Turn 4 and his Toyota swapped ends. He was hit heavily by the unsighted Justin Allgaier and registered his third retirement of the season.
Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Larson had also run strongly up until this point but when Allgaier swept across the track after collecting Busch, the pair got together and they finished 23rd and 24th respectively.
There was also a 10-car pile-up on lap 374 when Stewart-Haas's Kurt Busch got the jump on then race leader Joey Logano at the seventh restart.
Taking the higher line, he got loose in Turn 2 and while Logano squeezed through, Penske team-mate Brad Keselowski had nowhere to go on the inside and T-boned Busch's Chevrolet into retirement.
Ryan Blaney collected Matt Kenseth in the ensuing melee and they both retired as a result. Paul Menard was also caught up in the incident.
RESULTS - 500 laps:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 3h25m05.s |
2 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 1.933s |
3 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2.088s |
4 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 4.989s |
5 | Chris Buescher | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 5.088s |
6 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 6.312s |
7 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 6.446s |
8 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 7.455s |
9 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 7.549s |
10 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 9.877s |
11 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 11.100s |
12 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 11.351s |
13 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 11.689s |
14 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 11.830s |
15 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 12.245s |
16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 12.512s |
17 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | 15.843s |
18 | Brian Scott | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 1 Lap |
19 | Michael McDowell | Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 1 Lap |
20 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 3 Laps |
21 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota | 3 Laps |
22 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 4 Laps |
23 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 4 Laps |
24 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 5 Laps |
25 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 5 Laps |
26 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 9 Laps |
27 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 11 Laps |
28 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 13 Laps |
29 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 21 Laps |
30 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 29 Laps |
31 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30 Laps |
32 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 42 Laps |
33 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 42 Laps |
34 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 58 Laps |
35 | Ryan Blaney | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 63 Laps |
36 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 84 Laps |
37 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Accident |
38 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | Accident |
39 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Accident |
40 | Justin Allgaier | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | Accident |
- | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | Withdrawn |
CURRENT CHASE FIELD
On wins: Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr, Tony Stewart, Chris Buescher
On points: Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman
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