Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, the two wins leaders in the first 19 races of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, battled for a sixth victory in race 20 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on Sunday.
Busch took his first and only lead of the race by getting out of the pits first during a caution for Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer on Lap 256. Afterwards, Harvick made contact with Busch and took the lead on Lap 294 of the 301-lap race and pulled away to victory.
“I just didn’t know if I was gonna get there at the end, and I felt like that 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. I just got to thank everybody on this No. 4 Busch Beer/Jimmy John’s Ford for everything that they do—Mobil 1, Haas Automation, Hunt Brother’s, everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing. What a great weekend.”
Busch took runner-up honors between two SHR teammates as Aric Almirola finished third.
Stewart-Haas Racing dominated throughout the second half of the race. After starting on the pole and leading until a Lap 35 competition caution, SHR driver Kurt Busch was back up front after getting off pit road first just past the halfway point of the race. Shortly after Lap 200, Almirola and Harvick were up to second and third for an SHR 1-2-3.
Kurt Busch starts on the pole
A cautious pit stop under green to avoid Ryan Blaney near Lap 225 cost Kurt Busch the lead, leaving his teammates Almirola and Harvick in a battle for the top spot. Almirola took the lead before Kyle Busch got to the front under caution. Kurt Busch finished eighth after leading a race-high 94 laps.
Rain toyed with the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 scheduled, beginning with a time shift Saturday. NASCAR announced the day prior to the race that the planned start time Saturday would be moved up an hour, from 2 p.m. ET to 1 p.m., in an effort to beat anticipated afternoon/evening precipitation. But on Sunday, morning rain stuck around until the afternoon, resulting in a 4:24 p.m. green flag.
Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott were stage winners in the first half of the race, with Truex taking the Stage 1 win on Lap 75 and Elliott running up front when the second stage ended 75 laps later, marking his first stage win of the 2018 season. Both drivers also finished in the top-five, with Truex taking fourth and Elliott fifth.
Truex and Elliott run up front early
“I was shocked, to be honest with you, that we ran even that good,” Elliott said. “Our whole NAPA group did a great job overnight. I really have no idea where that came from. I hope it wasn’t dumb luck. Hopefully, we can keep it rolling, because it’s really nice to be able to go up there and lead some laps. I know it wasn’t the right part of the race, but still, leading laps for us is big compared to what we’ve been doing. I’m proud of the effort. I appreciate everybody’s effort back at Hendrick and the chassis shop and engine shop and Chevrolet and all the folks that are working hard to try to get better. We took a step in the right direction.”
With the yellow flag having already waved twice before the competition caution, pit strategies varied early and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stayed out to inherit the lead. Truex was first out of the pits but restarted eighth behind drivers who stayed out. Previous race leader Kurt Busch also lost several additional positions on pit road.
After Stenhouse led 11 laps, Truex took his first lead on Lap 49.
Truex continued up front through the remainder of Stage 1 and into the second stage before Elliott got by him to take the lead on Lap 131 and lead the final 19 laps of stage 2. After losing the lead, Truex lost second to Busch.
Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 Results:
1. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Ford
2. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota
3. Aric Almirola, No. 10 Ford
4. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota
5. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
6. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet
7. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
8. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Ford
9. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
10. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
11. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevrolet
12. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet
13. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
14. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
15. Matt Kenseth, No. 6 Ford
16. Erik Jones, No. 20 Toyota
17. Paul Menard, No. 21 Ford
18. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet
19. Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Chevrolet
20. Chris Buescher, No. 37 Chevrolet
21. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
22. Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Toyota
23. Ty Dillon, No. 13 Chevrolet
24. Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 43 Chevrolet
25. Ross Chastain, No. 15 Chevrolet
26. Michael McDowell, No. 34 Ford
27. Corey LaJoie, No. 72 Chevrolet
28. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Ford
29. David Ragan, No. 38 Ford
30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford
31. Kyle Weatherman, No. 99 Chevrolet
32. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford
33. Blake Jones, No. 23 Toyota
34. B.J. McLeod, No. 51 Chevrolet
35. Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Ford
36. A.J. Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet
37. Landon Cassill, No. 00 Chevrolet
UP NEXT: The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway, affectionately referred to as the “Tricky Triangle,” in Long Pond, Pennsylvania on July 29. It’ll be the second of two yearly visits to the track. Martin Truex Jr. was victorious at Pocono in June. Kyle Busch is the defending winner of the July race there.