Kevin Harvick Wins At Kansas To Advance in The Chase

Kevin Harvick wins at Kansas

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Whenever Kevin Harvick needs to, he always seems to be able to pull a rabbit out of his hat – or in this case, a much needed victory to pull himself out of the hole and into the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Harvick powered past Carl Edwards on a restart with 30 laps to go and led the rest of the way to win Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway for his fourth win of the season and score an automatic bid into the Round of 8.

Edwards rallied in the finals laps to claim second away from Kyle Busch. Jimmie Johnson finished third, followed by Joey Logano while Busch came home fifth.

It was another much-needed victory for Harvick – known as "The Closer" – who came into this weekend's race dead last among the Chase contenders after a disastrous finish last weekend at Charlotte.

"These races are so hard to win, and these guys are so good at the details," said Harvick, praising his crew. "You put their backs against the wall and they get better. Really proud of them."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"] Harvick led three times for 74 laps and was in the top five for much of the day, while the battle of front came down between Harvick, Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth had led 119 of the opening 125 laps before Harvick finally muscled his way to the front. From there, it was all Harvick and Edwards, as they traded the lead six times over the remaining 142 laps.

A late caution brought out by Regan Smith on lap 235 brought the field to pit road for the final time, but Edwards and Harvick elected to stay out while Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr. and Austin Dillon came to the pits for fresh tires.

On the restart on lap 238, Harvick managed to pull ahead of Edwards and had the lead by the time the field hit the backstretch.

Running on fresher tires, Kyle Busch quickly caught Edwards to take second, but Edwards fought back and regained the second spit with 16 laps to go, but by then Harvick had moved out to more than a two-second lead that Edwards could not overcome.

Carl Edwards led 61 laps, but ended up second to Harvick

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"That bottom line got a good run and they got in front of me," said Edwards of the final restart. "And, then I got choked up and raced Kyle (Busch) for a long time and that set us back. But, man, we had a really good car so it's frustrating to come home second here. But, Kevin (Harvick) and those guys did a really good job. They didn't have that fast of a car, they just made the most of that restart and then took off."

Harvick, who has never been eliminated since this current format was introduced in 2014, has had an uncanny knack for finding ways to stay alive.

In last year's opening round of the Chase, Harvick took the checkered flag in the final race in a win-or-go-home situation, eventually moving all the way to the final round, where he ultimately finished second to Kyle Busch in the championship.

Just three weeks ago, Harvick won at New Hampshire to advance to the second round, then promptly fell out at the final race at Dover with a track bar issue.

After his 38^th-place finish last Sunday at Charlotte, Harvick was facing the unenviable task for trying to win his way into the next round either this weekend at Kansas, or next weekend at Talladega – a prospect no driver in the Cup garage once to face.

Harvick crosses the finish line 1.183 seconds over Edwards

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But once again, Harvick and his team found a way to stay alive.

"I have no idea where we were in the points or how many we were behind. The only thing we talked about was trying to figure out how to win this race, and if we didn't win this race, what we needed to do at Talladega," said Harvick. "I think for us it's always about reaching for something to motivate us. If it's having to win a race, going to a racetrack you haven't won at, whatever, rebounding from a bad week.

"We've been fortunate to be on the good side of this deal for three years now. We know we can perform. We know we can perform in good and bad situations. That's not something we really even talk about because we've already done all that.

A few other Chase contenders weren't as fortunate as Harvick

2012 Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski went plowing through the infield grass with on lap 191, tearing a good portion of the front end of his No. 2 Ford Fusion along the way, sending him to the garage for extensive repairs.

Keselowski tried to return to the track but lasted only few laps before parking it for the day. He wound up 38^th in the final rundown and now finds himself on the outside looking in – second to last among the Chase drivers headed into Talladega.

"My guys busted their butt on this Miller Lite Ford to get it back out. They worked their guts out," said Keselowski. "If my team keeps putting up this kind of effort, I don't worry about today. We will win another race. We will win Talladega and other races and be fine.

"I don't care what the damn format is, I am going to give it my best."

Rookie Chase Elliott, who defied the odds simply by making the Chase – on points, no less – spent a good portion of Sunday's race running in the top five and even led the race at one point before a flat tire put him a lap down to the leaders with 92 laps to go.

Another flat tire on lap 245 put Elliott another two laps down, which is where he finished. The 31^st-place showing now puts him dead last in the Chase standings, and needing nothing less than a win at Talladega to advance.

Truex, Jr. experience refueling issues during the race, while Denny Hamlin spent extra time on pit road due damage to his front splitter.

Now, Harvick joins last weekend's winner Jimmie Johnson atop the point standings, followed by Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. Kurt Busch, Truex, Jr., Logano, Dillon and Hamlin round out the top ten, with only the top eight advancing following nest Sunday's race at Talladega.

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