Kevin Harvick Moves on to the second round of the Chase with New Hampshire Win

Credit: Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images

LOUDON, NH - RIS - Kevin Harvick only led six laps, but he led the cones that counted.  He held off Matt Kenseth in a ive lap shootout to win the Bad Boy Off Road 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday.  After last week's poor finish, the driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet took matters into his own hands and won, outting him automatically into the second round of the Chase.

Harvick started alongside Kenseth, who led 105 circuits, on the final restart, but after running side by side for awhile, Harvick pulled away to a six car length lead.  Harvick now joins Martin Truex, Jr. in the second round of the championship run.  Truex won last week’s race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Harvick didn't qualify well but was patient over 300 laps, avoiding pit problems and making winning adjustments as the race wore down. The day's sixth caution proved to be the break Harvick needed, a year after he saw victory disappear as his car ran out of fuel. The winner in that race? Kenseth. 

’That (last restart) worked out really good. My car was really good on restarts, and once we got clean air there at the end, wound up being really good out front. ... For me, it was a smooth restart. I didn’t want to spin the tires. I just timed it right,” Harvick said.

Kenseth blamed himself for losing the lead on the restart.

"I let Kevin lay back on me and we’re supposed to be side-by-side," Kenseth said. "I should have known better. I went really late in the zone and (let him) get up to my nose. He anticipated it just right, plus I spun the tires and got beat through (Turns) 1 and 2 and it was over.”

Harvick has won races in the Chase several times following a bad week, using the win-and-advance rule top save himself multiple times, including a win at Phoenix International Raceway to advance to the finale in 2014, where he won the race and his first title.

It was Harvick's third victory of the season and the first at the one-mile New England track in 10 years.

The late caution was not the first incident in Sunday's race. Josh Wise spun on Lap 124 to bring out the race's first caution, for debris going into Turn 1. That means nearly half the race was run at full speed. Caution 2, also for debris, came on Lap 165. No. 3, on Lap 240, came when smoke came from Michael Annett's car.

No. 4 offered the most excitement, even as a one-car accident. Michael McDowell appeared to have a tire rub when his car went spinning on Lap 263.

No. 5 set up a shootout to the checkered flag. Trevor Bayne hammered the Turn 3 wall. At that point, Kyle Busch was charging toward race leaders Kenseth and Truex.

Kenseth, Truex and Kyle Busch all stayed out rather than pit. Busch had the fresher tires. All three cars were Toyotas; Kenseth and Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing, Truex for JGR ally Furniture Row Racing.

Then, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brought the show to a pause with a crash on Lap 209 that collected Reed Sorenson. It was the day's sixth caution. A week earlier at Chicagoland, there were four.

Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was the second in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Next week, Cup drivers race at Dover. After Dover, four of the 16 Chase drivers will be eliminated. Race winners are guaranteed to advance, as long as they avoid a major post-race penalty.

The seonc round of the Chase begins on October 6th at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 19 4 Kevin Harvick ditech Chevrolet 300 44 4 115.6 Running 2 8
2 8 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 300 40 1 130.4 Running 2 105
3 12 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Core Toyota 300 39 1 118.7 Running 2 3
4 11 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 300 38 1 91.7 Running 1 2
5 13 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet 300 36 91.7 Running
6 1 19 Carl Edwards Comcast Business Toyota 300 36 1 107.7 Running 2 31
7 2 78 Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota 300 36 2 132.7 Running 4 141
8 4 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 300 33 106.2 Running
9 9 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet 300 32 89.4 Running
10 6 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 300 31 95.7 Running
11 15 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 300 30 77.8 Running
12 16 21 * Ryan Blaney # Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 300 29 76.0 Running
13 10 24 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 300 29 1 106.5 Running 1 1
14 18 88 Alex Bowman(i) Nationwide Chevrolet 300 0 82.3 Running
15 5 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota 300 26 90.7 Running
16 29 3 Austin Dillon Pumpkin Spice Cheerios Chevrolet 300 25 62.0 Running
17 26 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 300 24 67.9 Running
18 24 10 Danica Patrick Nature's Bakery Chevrolet 300 24 1 67.5 Running 1 9
19 7 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald?s Chevrolet 300 22 86.7 Running
20 3 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 300 21 79.7 Running
21 17 47 AJ Allmendinger Bush's Chili Beans Chevrolet 300 20 70.2 Running
22 37 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Chevrolet 300 19 47.5 Running
23 22 14 Tony Stewart Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 299 18 71.8 Running
24 21 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Fastenal Ford 299 17 57.6 Running
25 14 27 Paul Menard Libman/Menards Chevrolet 299 16 62.5 Running
26 20 95 Michael McDowell Patina Rat Rod Chevrolet 298 15 56.5 Running
27 31 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 298 14 50.0 Running
28 33 83 Matt DiBenedetto NASCAR Heat Evolution Toyota 298 13 39.5 Running
29 34 38 Landon Cassill The Pete Store Ford 298 12 40.9 Running
30 28 34 Chris Buescher # Love?s Travel Stops Ford 298 11 48.8 Running
31 25 44 Brian Scott # Shaw's Ford 298 10 46.0 Running
32 23 23 David Ragan Dr Pepper Toyota 297 9 39.5 Running
33 32 16 Greg Biffle Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford 297 8 41.9 Running
34 30 7 Regan Smith Nikko RC/Toy State Chevrolet 297 7 37.5 Running
35 36 98 * Cole Whitt Standard Plumbing Supply Chevrolet 294 6 30.8 Running
36 38 55 * Reed Sorenson Vydox Plus Toyota 293 5 28.3 Running
37 40 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt # Can-Am Ford 290 4 24.8 Running
38 27 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 282 3 49.5 Accident
39 39 30 * Josh Wise Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet 268 2 25.2 Running
40 35 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 236 1 29.0 Steering

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2016, Issue 8, Posted 6:28 PM, 09.25.2016