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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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