Kevin Harvick Holds off Kyle Busch to Win Bristol's Night Race

AP Photo

BRISTOL, TN - RIS – Kevin Harvick held off a charging Kyle Busch and went on to win the NASCAR Cup Series NRA 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night.  It was his ninth win of the season.  Harvick held Busch at bay over the final 32 laps of Saturday night’s Bristol night race to get his ninth win of the season and keep Busch winless. The regular season champion has become the odds-on favorite to win it all, but Busch gave him all he wanted.

“Bristol, baby!” Harvick shouted, arms raised to the crowd. “I was so jacked up when we started this race because of you guys. To beat Kyle Busch at Bristol ... just kept fighting, we didn’t have anything to lose. Just trying to win a race.”

Harvick and Busch traded the lead thanks to lapped traffic over the final 88 laps of the race. Harvick led for 46 laps before Busch led for 10. But Harvick got back past Busch with 32 laps to go and was able to keep the 2019 Cup Series champion in second for the rest of the race in a fun battle between two of the Cup Series’ best drivers.

“Just didn’t have enough there at the end,” Busch said.

 Only six cars finished on the lead lap in a tepid event at the 0.533-mile bullring revered for bumping and banging. Track officials sold all 30,000 tickets allowed — making Bristol one of the largest sporting events since the pandemic — and the spectators crowded the fence as Harvick celebrated his second win of the playoffs.

Busch had problems even before the race started.  He failed inspection twice and had to move though the field.  He made it to second place, but Harvick masterfully was able to keep the lead and win.  We’ve seen this from Harvick all season long with masterful driving and a good car.

The first elimination race of the playoffs knocked William Byron, Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto from title contention. All four were below the cutline at the start of the race and failed to produce a finish strong enough to get them into the next round.

DiBenedetto took a big swing with strategy during the first stage when he took just two tires on a pit stop. It cycled him into the lead briefly but 11 drivers on a full set of fresh tires passed him and DiBenedetto ended the stage 12th and ineligible for bonus points. He finished 19th.

“If we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all,” said DiBenedetto, who is hoping the option on his contract is picked up for 2021 by Wood Brothers Racing.

Blaney was ranked highly when the season started but has faded in later races.  He was still was optimistic.

Custer faced the new season with a big disadvantage.  With no practice, he was able to win a race to make the playoffs.  Custer is the odds-on favorite for the Rookie of the Year award.

Byron, who began the race three points behind the cutline with a shot at advancing into the second round, was the first driver officially eliminated when he ran into the back of Christopher Bell late in the second stage. Byron was running 10th at the time and alleged Bell had to slow to avoid Joey Gase, who had stopped in the middle of the straightaway.

“I had literally nowhere to go. You can’t stop in the middle of the straightaway,” Byron said. “I’ve got to go back and watch that because that was kind of ridiculous.”

 Erik Jones, who is not eligible for the playoffs, finished third for Joe Gibbs Racing and was followed by rookie Tyler Reddick and playoff contenders Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer. They were the only drivers on the lead lap.

The second round of the playoffs start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week.

Unofficial Results, Bass Pro Shops Night Race, Bristol Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 4, Kevin Harvick (P), No. 4 Busch Light Ford, 500, 3, 2, 4, 226, 5, 57, Running
2) 9, Kyle Busch (P), No. 18 Skittles Toyota, 500, 2, 1, 3, 159, 1, 54, Running
3) 20, Erik Jones, No. 20 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 500, , 9, , , , 36, Running
4) 17, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 33, Running
5) 10, Aric Almirola (P), No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 500, , 7, 1, 1, , 36, Running
6) 11, Clint Bowyer (P), No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford, 500, , 8, , , , 34, Running
7) 6, Chase Elliott (P), No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 499, 1, 3, 1, 23, 1, 48, Running
8) 23, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 499, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 22, Ryan Preece, No. 37 Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 26, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops/Delo Ford, 498, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 2, Joey Logano (P), No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 498, 9, 4, , , , 35, Running
12) 5, Austin Dillon (P), No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet, 498, , 10, , , , 26, Running
13) 14, Ryan Blaney (P), No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford, 498, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 19, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 498, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 13, Kurt Busch (P), No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 498, 6, 5, , , , 33, Running
16) 8, Alex Bowman (P), No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet, 498, 4, 6, , , , 33, Running
17) 24, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 498, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 28, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 497, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 16, Matt DiBenedetto (P), No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, 497, , , 1, 7, , 18, Running
20) 31, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 Mystik Michigan Ford, 497, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 7, Denny Hamlin (P), No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 497, , , 1, 1, , 16, Running
22) 27, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Cash App Chevrolet, 497, 10, , , , , 16, Running
23) 12, Cole Custer # (P), No. 41 HaasTooling.com/Fusion 360 Ford, 497, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 3, Martin Truex Jr. (P), No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 496, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 25, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford, 496, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 29, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 Genuine Parts & Service Toyota, 495, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 37, Gray Gaulding(i), No. 27 Panini America Ford, 488, , , , , , 0, Running
28) 18, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Rheem Toyota, 487, 5, , 1, 1, , 15, Running
29) 33, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Boss Hoss Cycles Chevrolet, 483, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 32, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 THRIV5 Chevrolet, 479, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 36, Joey Gase(i), No. 51 Bare Arms Ford, 463, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 40, * Garrett Smithley(i), No. 78 Major Appliances HQ Chevrolet, 436, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 30, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Schluter Systems Ford, 419, , , , , , 4, Steering
34) 1, Brad Keselowski (P), No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 412, 7, , 3, 82, , 7, Running
35) 35, James Davison, No. 53 Racing for Heroes Chevrolet, 401, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 34, Reed Sorenson, No. 77  Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 1, Electrical
37) 38, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 313, , , , , , 0, Steering
38) 15, William Byron (P), No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 232, 8, , , , , 4, Accident
39) 39, * Josh Bilicki(i), No. 7 Insurance King Chevrolet, 53, , , , , , 0, Fuel Pump
40) 21, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 28, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs qualified

Race Comments: Kevin Harvick won the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway, his 58th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: Nos. 11, 18, 20 (Multiple Inspection Failures), Nos. 32, 43 (Unapproved Adjustments), No. 15 (Driver Change).

Race Length: 500 Laps, 266.5 Miles

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 46 Mins, 43 Secs.
Average Speed: 95.911 MPH
Margin of Victory: .310 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 9, 18, 4, 88, 95, 1, 2, 24, 22, 43

Stage 2 Top 10: 18, 4, 9, 22, 1, 88, 10, 14, 20, 3

Caution Flags: 5 for 50 laps;
Laps: 30-40 (No. 47, 48 Incident Backstretch [66]);
127-136 (Stage 1 Conclusion [32]);
234-241 (No. 95, 24 Incident Backstretch [2]);
251-260 (No. 6 Spin Turn 2 / Stage 2 Conclusion [21]);
408-418 (No. 3, 53, 77 Incident Turn 1 [None]).

Lead Changes: 14 among 8 drivers;
B. Keselowski (P) 1-17;
K. Harvick (P) 18-34;
B. Keselowski (P) 35;
M. DiBenedetto (P) 36-42;
B. Keselowski (P) 43-106;
C. Elliott (P) 107-129;
C. Bell # 130;
K. Busch (P) 131-236;
D. Hamlin (P) 237;
K. Busch (P) 238-280;
K. Harvick (P) 281-411;
A. Almirola (P) 412;
K. Harvick (P) 413-458;
K. Busch (P) 459-468;
K. Harvick (P) 469-500.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award:  Kevin Harvick, No. 4
Busch Pole Award:  Brad Keselowski, No. 2

Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Tyler Reddick, No. 8