Harvick Dominates Nationwide Race at Atlanta

Credit:  Getty Images for NASCAR

HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Kevin Harvick took the lead for the first time on Lap 37 by passing Chase Elliott and never looked back.  He sailed across the finish line to win the Great Clips 300 Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

 In posting his third NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the season and the 43rd of his career, Harvick led the last 159 laps and finished 0.567 seconds ahead of runner-up Joey Logano.

"This thing was bad fast from the drop of the green flag," Harvick said after finishing off a spectacular victory burnout and exiting the car. "This is just one of those race tracks where I like the challenge of everything you get to do here."

The only factors preventing Harvick from lapping the field -- or so it seemed -- were a pair of debris cautions, the first of which erased a four-second lead after Harvick had paced the field from Laps 37 through 72.

 The second caution flag, which flew on Lap 120, wiped out a Harvick advantage that was close to seven seconds.

A light rain extended that second caution to 13 laps, but after a restart on Lap 134, it was more of the same. Harvick quickly pulled out to a lead of more than four seconds before a cycle of green-flag pit stops trimmed his advantage to two seconds over Logano, the only driver able to keep pace with Harvick throughout the closing laps.

 Kyle Larson ran third, followed by Kyle Busch and Elliott, who extended his series lead to 15 points over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith, who finished sixth.

 Logano's car gained speed in the closing laps but not soon enough for him to catch Harvick.

"I took off that last run and started to catch Kevin a little bit and then started to get too tight," Logano said. "He started driving away a little bit, and then the last six or seven laps, all of a sudden the light switch turned on and I started catching him. 

"I just ran out of time. I wish there were five or seven more laps, and I could have got to him and tried to do something with him. We were catching him two or three tenths (of a second) a lap there at the end and having some fun with it, but it was too little, too late."

In Friday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series time trials, Harvick won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday's Oral-B USA 500 at the 1.54-mile speedway.

Unofficial Race Results: 23rd Annual Great Clips 300 Benefitting Feed The Children

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, Pts, BPts, Status, TLd, LLd
1)         8, Kevin Harvick(i), No. 5 Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet, 195, 0, , Running, 1, 159
2)         4, Joey Logano(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 195, 0, , Running, ,
3)         2, Kyle Larson(i), No. 42 Cartwheel by Target Chevrolet, 195, 0, , Running, ,
4)         3, Kyle Busch(i), No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 195, 0, , Running, ,
5)         1, Chase Elliott#, No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet, 195, 40, 1, Running, 1, 36
6)         11, Regan Smith, No. 7 TaxSlayer Bowl Chevrolet, 195, 38, , Running, ,
7)         9, Brian Scott, No. 2 Shore Lodge Chevrolet, 195, 37, , Running, ,
8)         10, David Ragan(i), No. 98 DenBeste Hvy Eqpmnt/Crrll Shlby Engn Ford, 195, 0, , Running, ,
9)         14, Ty Dillon#, No. 3 Yuengling Light Lager Chevrolet, 195, 35, , Running, ,
10)       5, Elliott Sadler, No. 11 OneMain Financial Toyota, 194, 34, , Running, ,
11)       6, Matt Kenseth(i), No. 20 Sun Energy 1 Toyota, 194, 0, , Running, ,
12)       7, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 193, 32, , Running, ,
13)       13, Chris Buescher#, No. 60 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ford, 192, 31, , Running, ,
14)       16, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point Chevrolet, 192, 30, , Running, ,
15)       24, Landon Cassill, No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet, 192, 29, , Running, ,
16)       23, JJ Yeley, No. 28 Texas 28 Spirits Stage Dodge, 191, 28, , Running, ,
17)       19, Mike Bliss, No. 19 Tweaker Energy Shot Toyota, 191, 27, , Running, ,
18)       12, Ryan Reed#, No. 16 ADA Drive to Stop Diabetes/Lilly Diabetes Ford, 190, 26, , Running, ,
19)       18, James Buescher, No. 99 Rheem Toyota, 190, 25, , Running, ,
20)       29, Ryan Sieg#, No. 39 Big Green Egg Chevrolet, 190, 24, , Running

21)       15, Dylan Kwasniewski#, No. 31 Rockstar/FOE Chevrolet, 190, 23, , Running, ,
22)       20, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Value Lighting/AllSouthElectric.com Chevrolet, 190, 22, , Running, ,
23)       27, Tanner Berryhill#, No. 17 NationalCashLenders.com Dodge, 189, 21, , Running, ,
24)       25, Eric McClure, No. 14 Hefty Ultimate/Reynolds Wrap Toyota, 188, 20, , Running, ,
25)       28, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 4 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 188, 19, , Running, ,
26)       26, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 40 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, 188, 18, , Running, ,
27)       37, Jamie Dick, No. 55 Viva Auto Group Chevrolet, 187, 17, , Running, ,
28)       22, Blake Koch, No. 44 WWB Toyota, 187, 16, , Running, ,
29)       36, Chris Cockrum(i), No. 87 Advncd Cmmnctns Grp/Capt. Herb Emory Ford, 183, 0, , Running, ,
30)       33, Joey Gase, No. 52 Axe Equipment Chevrolet, 180, 14, , Fuel Pump, ,
31)       32, Derrike Cope, No. 70 youtheory Chevrolet, 180, 13, , Running, ,
32)       21, John Wes Townley(i), No. 25 Zaxby's Toyota, 157, 0, , Engine, ,
33)       17, Dakoda Armstrong#, No. 43 WinField Ford, 129, 11, , Engine, ,
34)       34, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Kengor Metals Dodge, 92, 10, , Transmission, ,
35)       38, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Courtney Construction Inc. Chevrolet, 51, 9, , Overheating, ,
36)       31, Kevin Swindell, No. 93 JGL Racing Dodge, 43, 8, , Fuel Pump, ,
37)       35, Carlos Contreras, No. 23 RaceTrac Chevrolet, 35, 7, , Engine, ,
38)       40, John Jackson, No. 72 Crash Claims R Us Chevrolet, 19, 6, , Vibration, ,
39)       39, Carl Long, No. 46 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, 4, 5, , Overheating, ,
40)       30, Jeff Green, No. 10 Supportmilitary.org Toyota, 3, 4, , Vibration, ,

# = Rookie