Harvick Stomps Field at Vegas, Reaches Historic Milestone

Kevin Harvick won the Pennzoil 400 after leading all but 53 of the 267 laps. It’s Harvick’s fourth NASCAR win at Las Vegas and his 100th NASCAR national series victory, putting him behind only David Pearson (106), Kyle Busch (184), and Richard Petty (200).

Polesitter Ryan Blaney led the field to the green, and led the first lap, but Kevin Harvick quickly show that he would be a contender, passing by Blaney on the second lap of the race. Early on, Jimmie Johnson got lapped after inspection issues sent him to the rear of the field. Teams elected to split the stage in half, pitting after about 40 of the stage’s 80 laps. The only teams to not follow that strategy were Matt DiBenedetto, David Ragan, and Michael McDowell. DiBenedetto would pit later in the stage and the other two would get passed by Kevin Harvick. Harvick would easily march to the stage one win.

Again, Harvick would pull away easily. Teams carbon copied their strategy from the first stage, pitting about 40 laps in, but this time, nobody risked staying out. Denny Hamlin sped on pit road, putting him outside the top 15. Harvick sailed to the stage two victory by five seconds over Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson.

Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney, however, were able to get ahead of Harvick on the yellow flag pit stops that followed stage two. Logano and Blaney led the inside lane, and were able to jump to an early 1-2. With 91 laps to go, Jamie McMurray slammed the wall after a right front tire issue. This prompted pit stops, where Martin Truex Jr. elected to stay out. Ryan Blaney had a crewman slip and fell several positions.

On the restart, Truex lost a few spots, but things quickly turned sour for those behind him as Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott collided, ending both of their days. On the restart, second-place Kevin Harvick easily slid by Joey Logano. Truex, however, had pitted during that caution, and marched forward quickly from tenth, but would stall out in fifth.

The race progressed smoothly from there, with the only significant issue being Daniel Suarez running out of gas with four laps to go. Harvick would win by nearly three seconds over second-place Kyle Busch, who was the only one within ten seconds of Harvick.

Here are the full results from the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

1. Kevin Harvick (Stages 1 & 2)
2. Kyle Busch
3. Kyle Larson
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Joey Logano
8. Erik Jones
9. Paul Menard
10. Aric Almirola
11. Ryan Newman
12. Jimmie Johnson
13. Austin Dillon
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15. Chris Buescher
16. Alex Bowman
17. Denny Hamlin
18. Clint Bowyer
19. Kasey Kahne
20. Trevor Bayne
21. Darrell Wallace Jr. (Rookie)
22. Matt DiBenedetto
23. David Ragan
24. Ty Dillon
25. Cole Custer (Cup Debut)
26. Daniel Suarez
27. William Byron (Rookie)
28. Cole Whitt
29. Ross Chastain
30. AJ Allmendinger
31. Jeffrey Earnhardt
32. Joey Gase
33. Gray Gaulding (Engine)
34. Chase Elliott (Crash)
35. Kurt Busch (Crash)
36. Jamie McMurray (Crash)
37. Michael McDowell (Engine)