Riding worn tires rather than risking another problematic pit stop, Harvick ran away from dueling teammates Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch on Sunday. Victory locked Harvick into the Chase for the Sprint Cup’s Round of 8.
MORE: Race results | Keselowski, Hamlin in big trouble heading to Talladega
Harvick stayed out on the race’s last pit stop, leading at a restart with 30 to go. Busch got four tires, Edwards didn’t. They went door to door, while Harvick pulled ahead to win by more than 1.1 seconds.
Edwards was second, followed by Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch.
“This team is unbelievable,” crew chief Rodney Childers said in a radio interview as his team celebrated. “After that failure last week they gave us their best.”
Harvick made sure of that.
After the race, he even lauded his crew, including the workers at the Stewart-Haas shops. “These races are so hard to win, and these guys are so good at the details. You put their backs against the wall and they get better. Really proud of them,” he said.
MORE: Keselowski’s crash | Truex’s weird fuel problems | More hurt for Hamlin
Harvick lit up his crew earlier this season and has good reason to think its failures cost him victories. Sunday, he took that joker out of the deck.
Sunday was not so kind to Brad Keselowski. Struggling with a tire problem, he crashed after being strong for 189 laps. He finished 38th, 77 laps off the lead.
“My guys busted their butt to get it back out. They were working like crazy,” he said. “As far as what happened on the track I don’t know. I spun and got in the grass and tore the nose off.
“I probably could have raced less hard with a big points gap coming in. With this format it is probably the smart thing to do but I don’t want to race like that. I want to race my guts out and go for wins. I don’t want to points race. I don’t care what the damn format is, I am going to give it my best.”
Chase Elliott’s Chase now hinges on Talladega, the least predictable track in the 10-race championship series. He had tire problems and finished 31st. Elliott must win at Talladega to advance.
MORE: Early action | Must-see race video
Non-Chase drivers came away with big results.
Alex Bowman finished seventh, his best in Sprint Cup and as a replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Unlike other races, he was able to avoid crashes, save for one minor ding, and deliver an outstanding effort.
AJ Allmendinger had a fast car all week and came away eighth. It was an impressive race for ‘Dinger for a one-car team that usually has back-marker results.
Like Bowman, Kasey Kahne capitalized on Hendrick Motorsports’ recent improvements. Kahne finished 10th.
Ryan Newman, re-signed this week by Richard Childress Racing, said thank you by coming in 12th.
