Kevin Harvick Dominates in Atlanta Xfinity race

Harvick celebrates a dominant win

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Kevin Harvick scored his 45th-career Xfinity Series victory with a dominating performance in Saturday's Hisense 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Harvick led 101 of the 163 laps and won the battle off pit road during the final round of pit stops to take the lead with 25 laps to go. Harvick then held off Joey Logano over the final laps to collect his third straight Atlanta Xfinity Series victory.

Ty Dillon finished third, followed by Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott.

Saturday's victory fourth overall Atlanta Xfinity victory for Harvick, and his first ever win for new crew chief David Elenz.

"That pit stop is what won this race," said Harvick. "Joey (Logano) probably had a little bit better car in the second half of the run and it really played out for us there and the end as we were able to have that short run and really take off.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]"I knew I needed to take off (on the final restart). I thought (Logano's) car was a little bit better as we got to lap 20 and he started reeling us in. Awesome pit stops all day long and we were able to make up some ground on that last pit stop and now we get to enjoy cold Budweiser in victory lane."

Logano started on the pole for the start of Saturday's race and led the opening 49 but fell victim to a loose right-rear tire in the closing laps and ended finishing 1.207 seconds behind Harvick.

Logano's runner-up finish was the second straight time he's finished second to Harvick here at Atlanta in the Xfinity Series.

"I actually was able to get a decent restart and be able to still be door to door with Kevin and I thought, ‘We're OK here. I've got a shot,'" said Logano. "If I can be door to door with him I've got a shot, but then the 9 just gave him a shove and shoved him way up in front of me and that was kind of the end of that.

"The tire was one problem and then obviously when it's in the back of the car you definitely lose a lot of rear grip, but you keep your foot in it trying anything. Once it got really bad I couldn't keep up with Kevin (Harvick) anymore. We were making ground and then it just kept getting worse and you just keep losing ground because the vibration was so big. Like I said, you lose grip, you lose sight and nothing good happens from there, but the next one is really bad when the left rear passes you.

"We just came up a little bit short. It seems like I finish second in this race all the time.

Harvick, Logano and Matt Kenseth combined to lead every lap, but Kenseth's chance for a victory was dashed when he got caught on pit road on a green flag stop when the yellow flag waved on lap 87.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Harvick picked up the lead and led the 74 laps before Logano finally reeled him in and made the pass on the inside and head the top spot for the next 10 laps.

The third and final caution flag on lap 135 laps to go brought the field to pit road with Logano holding the lead, but Harvick was first out of the pits followed by Logano and Elliott.

On the restart, Harvick benefited from a big push from Elliott to get out in front of Logano, but Elliott got loose and began free-falling through the field, going from third to eighth in one lap.

Up front, Logano began stalking Harvick on the high side and looked to be closing the gap on Harvick in, but as the race came to 10 laps to go, Logano's car began feeling the effects of the loose wheel and he began to fade, allowing Harvick to open up a 1.5-second lead that he easily stretched to the finish.

Paul Menard finished sixth, followed by Brian Scott, Kenseth, Regan Smith and Kyle Larson.

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