Kevin Harvick (pictured) boosted his Sprint Cup championship hopes in his final season with Richard Childress Racing, winning from the pole in today’s caution-marred Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Harvick was able to scoot away off a restart with 19 laps to go in order to earn his third win of the season, and move within 25 points of Chase for the Sprint Cup leader Matt Kenseth.
These guys just did a great job all weekend,” Harvick told The Associated Press. “To have a car fast enough for me to qualify on the pole says a lot about how fast this thing is.”
Kenseth was able to stay atop the standings but saw his edge over Jimmie Johnson drop to three points. Johnson came away with a sixth-place finish, while Kenseth was forced to rally for an 11th place result after being penalized mid-race for speeding on pit road.
The biggest loser in the Heartland was Kyle Busch, who once again suffered a tough day on the 1.5-mile oval outside Kansas City. On Lap 200, Busch got loose and hit the wall, inflicting major front-end damage to his car in the process.
As a result, he fell to fifth in the Chase at 35 points behind Kenseth, as both Harvick and Jeff Gordon (fourth, 32 points behind Kenseth) were able to leapfrog him in the title picture.
A first-lap incident involving Kyle Busch, Danica Patrick, David Reutimann and Cole Whitt seemed to set the tone for the race, which took place in cool conditions and had a record 15 cautions – including one on Lap 155 for a brush fire outside of Turn 1 that emerged near a spectator area. According to NASCAR, the fire was quickly put out and no injuries were reported.
Harvick took the checkered flag ahead of Kurt Busch, Gordon, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards.
