Harvick wins NASCAR race in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Kevin Harvick claimed his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the year on Sunday when he took the checkered flag in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Kurt Busch finished second, with Jeff Gordon third. Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson were fourth through sixth, respectively, as Johnson reduced Matt Kenseth's lead in the championship standings from eight points to three.
Harvick started on the pole and led for all but one of the first 81 laps before losing the top spot to Johnson.
Soon after losing the lead to Johnson, Harvick headed down pit road for his first green-flag pit stop, but the yellow flag waved soon after, catching him a lap down.
Harvick took a wave-around to get back on the lead lap, and his crew used pit strategy to get him back to the front by leaving him out on the track to reassume the lead during a caution that came out on lap 136. Harvick dominated the remainder of the race.
Kurt Busch, who was two laps down at one point in the race, recovered to finish second.
After Harvick got mired back in the field, Kenseth, Johnson and Kyle Busch spent significant time up front. But throughout the race, each would lose several positions during various cautions as strategies varied. Some drivers took fuel only, some took two tires and some four, and some stayed out on the race track.
Kyle Busch had an eventful race after starting in the back in a backup car after wrecking in practice earlier in the weekend. He spun on lap one to avoid a wrecked Danica Patrick. After getting back toward the front, he wrecked with under 70 laps remaining after trying to block a charging Juan Pablo Montoya to hold on to his position. He wound up retiring from the race and was credited with a 34th-place finish.
Johnson, who lost several positions on several restarts throughout the race, made his way up to fifth in the final laps of the race. He fell slightly off the pace, though, feeling a vibration in his car, with two laps to go. He managed to only lose one position to Carl Edwards on the final lap and wound up sixth.
Other drivers finishing in the top 10 were Paul Menard in seventh, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in eighth, Marcos Ambrose in ninth and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-10.
NOTES: Harvick's pole start was his first pole since 2006... Harvick is the only driver not with Joe Gibbs Racing to win on a 1.5-mile track in 2013... The win moved Harvick up to third in the championship points standings... Gordon moved up to fourth in the standings, while Kyle Busch dropped to fifth... The 15 cautions in the race set a record for most cautions at Kansas Speedway and the most for any race in 2013... Kyle Busch's DNF (did not finish) was his third straight at Kansas.
