Harvick Uses a Little Nudge to Pass Kyle Busch for the Win at New Hampshire

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LOUDON, NH – RIS – Kevin Harvick used a less-common tactic to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday.  He used the chrome horn, even though it’s not chrome anymore, moved Kyle Busch just enough to get by him and went on to victory at the Foxwoods Resort 301. Harvick put his Ford bumper on the left side of Busch's Toyota and nudged the leader out of the way in the corner for the move of the race in another stellar showing for the leader of the dominant drivers.

 Aric Almirola, having a career year in the No. 10 Ford, finished third. Almirola led for more than 40 laps and had his second career win in sight but was derailed by a poor pit stop and a botched restart that cost him.

Harvick outdueled Busch over the final 10 laps to win a battle of two of NASCAR's dominant drivers Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

"I felt like it was my best opportunity to do what I had to do to win," Harvick said. "I didn't want to wreck him. But I didn't want to waste a bunch of time behind him."

Busch, always the contrarian racer, didn’t agree with Harvick.

"I think he could have made the move work cleaner than that," Busch said.

Busch said he expected for Harvick to keep trying for the decisive pass until there were about two or three laps left.

"I figured that's exactly what he was thinking," Harvick said, smiling. "I knew I needed to take the opportunity as soon as I could get it. We needed to do it when he wasn't expecting it."

Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers had exhorted Harvick over the radio to do what he needed to do to snag that checkered flag.

"He was in the lane that I needed to be and as you get to the end," Harvick said, "you've got to be aggressive."

Harvick raced to his sixth victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing and finished in the top two in some order with Busch for the fourth time this year.

Harvick, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — NASCAR's Big Three — have won a combined 15 times in the 20 Cup races. Busch has five wins and Truex, who was fourth Sunday, has four.

There was nearly an outlier in a race delayed more than three hours by rain.

Aric Almirola , who replaced retired Danica Patrick this season in the No. 10 Ford, threatened to crash the party and win his second career Cup race. He led for more than 40 laps late until he was derailed by a poor pit stop and then spun his tires on a restart that likely cost him his first win since July 2014.

"You think I'd be happy," he said.

You might think that, but Almirola said he was disappointed.  But it was a banner weekend for SHR: Kurt Busch won the pole and finished eighth; and Harvick and Almirola placed in the top five.

Almirola, though, was the latest also-ran to realize drivers have to be flawless to catch either of the Big Three.

Harvick, who won his 43rd career race, made the perfect pass in New Hampshire.

Harvick reeled off three straight victories at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix and went back-to-back in May at Dover and Kansas. It had been seven races since he reached victory lane.

He found the way again in the No. 4 Ford to celebrate there again for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Next is Pocono on Sunday.

Unofficial Race Results for the 26th Annual Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 - Sunday, July 22, 2018 - New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 14, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Beer Ford, 301, 7, 3, 12, 5, 4, 51, Running
2) 3, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 301, 6, 1, 36, , 6, 45, Running
3) 13, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 301, 10, 2, 42, , 5, 41, Running
4) 2, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 5-hour ENERGY/Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 301, 1, 1, 83, 1, 3, 51, Running
5) 10, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 301, 2, 1, 23, 1, 1, 51, Running
6) 18, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet, 301, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 5, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Sylvania Ford, 301, 5, , , , 9, 38, Running
8) 1, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford, 301, 4, 2, 94, , 2, 45, Running
9) 19, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 301, 9, , , , 10, 31, Running
10) 21, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet, 301, 3, , , , 8, 38, Running
11) 8, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 301, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 20, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 301, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 4, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 301, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 11, William Byron #, No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet, 301, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 31, Matt Kenseth, No. 6 Constantine Sealing Service Ford, 301, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 7, Erik Jones, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, 301, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 12, Paul Menard, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 301, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 22, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 301, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 26, Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Thorne Wellness Chevrolet, 301, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 24, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 300, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 17, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Chevrolet, 300, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 9, Daniel Suarez, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, 300, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 300, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 27, Bubba Wallace #, No. 43 Medallion Bank/Petty's Garage Chevrolet, 299, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 32, Ross Chastain(i), No. 15  Chevrolet, 298, , , , , , 0, Running
26) 29, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Starkey Hearing Foundation Ford, 298, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 33, Corey LaJoie, No. 72 Monarch Chevrolet, 298, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 28, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Weirs Motor Sales Inc. Ford, 298, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 30, David Ragan, No. 38 Performance Plus Ford, 298, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 23, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 296, , 1, 11, , , 7, Running
31) 35, * Kyle Weatherman, No. 99 StarCom Fiber Chevrolet, 294, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 6, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Autotrader Ford, 293, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 37, Blake Jones, No. 23 Tennessee Shine Co./KBM Comm. Prop. Toyota, 289, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 36, BJ McLeod(i), No. 51 Jacob Companies Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 15, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas 30 Years of the VF1 Ford, 255, 8, , , , 7, 9, Accident
36) 16, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, 19, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 34, Landon Cassill, No. 00 StarCom Fiber Chevrolet, 13, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (*) non-charter team

Total Race Length - 301 Laps - 318.458 Miles
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 52 Mins, 56 Secs.
Average Speed: 110.490 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.877 Seconds

Race Comments: Kevin Harvick won the 26th Annual Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, his 43rd victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 00, 34 (back-up cars). 
Caution Flags: 7 for 31 laps: Laps: 16-18 (#00 Spin Turn 3) 21-24 (No. 47 Incident Between Turns 1 and 2 [None])
37-39 (Competition Caution [None])
53-55 (Debris on Frontstretch [99])
77-82 (End of Stage 1 [23])
152-158 (End of Stage 2 [95])
258-262 (No. 14 Incident Turn 3 [11]). 
Lead Changes: 10 among 7 drivers: Kurt Busch 1-37
R. Stenhouse Jr. 38-48
M. Truex Jr. 49-131
C. Elliott 132-154
Kurt Busch 155-211
A. Almirola 212-228
K. Harvick 229-232
A. Almirola 233-257
K. Harvick 258
Kyle Busch 259-294
K. Harvick 295-301.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award:  Martin Truex Jr, No. 78 
Busch Pole Award:  Kurt Busch, No. 41 133.591 mph 
Fastest Lap:  Martin Truex Jr, No. 78 
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race:  Roush-Yates Engines, No. 41
Moog Go the Extra Mile:  Aric Almirola, No. 10 crew chief John Klausmeier, -0.116 seconds
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  William Byron, No. 24

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

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 2018, Issue 6, Posted 9:33 PM, 07.22.2018