NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond results: Harvick wins the Federated Auto Parts 400, his second straight victory – CBS Sports
Just eight days ago, the narrative around Kevin Harvick was that he was enduring a winless streak of nearly two full seasons, and that he didn’t seem particularly close to winning with just 13 laps led the entire season. But it’s only taken eight days for Harvick to completely reverse that narrative and perhaps position himself as one of the most dangerous drivers in NASCAR right now.
After taking the lead from a dominant Joey Logano, Harvick paced the field over the last quarter of Sunday’s race and played tire strategy just right to win the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway, scoring his second straight victory. Harvick fended off a serious challenge from Chris Buescher on the final green flag run, and then survived a charge by Christopher Bell — who was on fresher tires — to hang on and win by a carlength.
Harvick’s win is the 60th of his career, which ties him with Kyle Busch for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. It’s also his fourth career win at Richmond, joining previous triumphs in 2006, 2011 and 2013.
Federated Auto Parts 400 unofficial results
- #4 – Kevin Harvick
- #20 – Christopher Bell
- #17 – Chris Buescher
- #11 – Denny Hamlin
- #9 – Chase Elliott
- #22 – Joey Logano
- #19 – Martin Truex Jr.
- #10 – Aric Almirola
- #18 – Kyle Busch
- #12 – Ryan Blaney
Just like it did in the springtime, Sunday’s race came down to pit and tire strategy at the end. Chris Buescher made his final pit stop just before Harvick with about 60 laps to go, allowing Buescher to make up the gap between them and challenge for the lead before falling off. But Christopher Bell pitted about a dozen laps later, allowing him to be faster than both of the top two cars in the final 10 laps.
In a similar race in April, Harvick wound up a narrow second to Denny Hamlin. But this time, he was able to hang on even as Bell came from seconds back to chase him down coming to the checkered flag, continuing his sudden surge in momentum toward another playoff run.
“We’re just gonna keep doing the things that we’re doing, right? I think we just have to keep an open mind about things and keep progressing and keep understanding the car,” Harvick told NBC Sports. “Understand what we could have done better today, understand what we could have done better in qualifying yesterday, and do the same thing over and over.”
Chris-is Management
Entering Sunday’s race, there was a great deal of focus on the battle for the final open spot in the playoffs between Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. But instead of one or the other battling for a win, both drivers wound up seeing a potential nightmare scenario — a new winner emerging and knocking both of them below the cut line — almost play out in the closing laps.
Chris Buescher, 23rd in points entering Richmond, saw his car come to life over the final 100 laps as a cloud cover rolled in and made for cooler conditions. After being able to run down both Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano on a long green flag run, Buescher ran down Harvick for the lead on the same tire strategy and almost made the pass for the lead as the two raced in lapped traffic.
Unfortunately for Buescher — and luckily for Blaney and Truex — …….