LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Kevin Harvick must have been tired of finishing second, because on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion did something about it.
Once Harvick got to the front of the field from his 18th-place starting spot in the Kobalt 400, he was untouchable.
Even with a disquieting vibration on the final green-flag run - and a left-rear tire that shredded during his celebratory burnout - Harvick had enough of a working margin to hold off runner-up Martin Truex, Jr. by 1.640 seconds.
Harvick, who ran second in the season-opening Daytona 500 and in last week's 500-miler at Atlanta, led a race-high 142 laps in winning for the first time in Las Vegas and for the 29th time in his career. In his last six races, dating to last year's championship season, Harvick has three victories and three second-place finishes.
Ryan Newman came home third, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin and A.J. Allmendinger. Brad Keselowski, last year's Las Vegas race winner, rallied from a pass-through penalty for a runaway tire on pit road to finish seventh. Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano completed the top 10.
Harvick will try to extend his string of top-two finishes next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, where the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet has won four of the last five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
"It's so cool to win here in Las Vegas, and to start this West Coast swing off this way is pretty awesome," Harvick said in victory lane. "Just to be in front of all these fans I've raced in front of since about the mid-'90s
Monday
December 23rd, 2024
6:56AM
