NASCAR Cup Series: Kevin Harvick wins 2018 AAA Texas 500

Kevin Harvick clinched a berth in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 by winning the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick became the second driver to clinch a berth in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4. He did so by winning the second of three races in the round of 8, the AAA Texas 500, at Texas Motor Speedway. The win is his first of the playoffs, his eighth of the season and the 45th of his Cup Series career.

Harvick, who started the 337-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Texas Motor Speedway oval in Fort Worth, Texas in third place in his #4 Ford, won it by 0.447 seconds over Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who finished in second in his #12 Ford after starting from the pole position.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano, the other driver who has clinched a berth in the Championship 4, completed the top three Ford sweep by finishing in third place in his #22 Ford.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones was the highest finishing Toyota driver of the race. He finished in fourth place in his #20 Toyota. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott were the highest finishing Chevrolet drivers of the race. They finished in fifth and sixth in their #42 Chevrolet and #9 Chevrolet, respectively.

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Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola, Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10 by finishing in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #41 Ford, #10 Ford, #78 Toyota and #3 Chevrolet, respectively.

Aside of Harvick and Logano, the four round of 8 drivers who finished in the top 10 were Elliott, Busch, Almirola and Truex Jr. The two round of 8 drivers who failed to finished in the top 10 were Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who finished in 17th place in his #18 Toyota, and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, who finished in 26th in his #14 Ford.

Harvick lost the lead to Blaney after a late restart, but he fought back to retake the lead a few laps later. However, with just three laps remaining, another caution flag came out, causing there to be another restart. Blaney got a bump from Larson on the restart to temporarily shoot to the lead, but Harvick cleared him for the lead after turn one and never looked back.

The race, which was extended by three laps as a result of the final caution flag period, featured a total of 19 lead changes among seven drivers. Aside of Harvick, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 177 laps led, six other drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Blaney, Logano, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson and Darrell Wallace Jr. Harvick won both stages one and two.

The race also featured a total of eight caution flag periods for 37 laps. Of those eight caution flag periods, only five took place as a result of on-track incidents, as one was a competition caution that took place during stage one and the other two were the usual two that took place as a result of the endings of stages one and two. Of the 40 drivers who started the race, 39 finished it and 17 finished it on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2018 AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Kevin Harvick
2nd – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Joey Logano
4th – Erik Jones
5th – Kyle Larson
6th – Chase Elliott
7th – Kurt Busch
8th – Aric Almirola
9th – Martin Truex Jr.
10th – Austin Dillon
11th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12th – Brad Keselowski
13th – Paul Menard
14th – Alex Bowman
15th – Jimmie Johnson
16th – William Byron
17th – Kyle Busch
18th – Ryan Newman
19th – Jamie McMurray
20th – A.J. Allmendinger
21st – Trevor Bayne
22nd – Ty Dillon
23rd – Chris Buescher
24th – David Ragan
25th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
26th – Clint Bowyer
27th – Regan Smith
28th – Daniel Suarez
29th – Michael McDowell
30th – Denny Hamlin
31st – Parker Kligerman
32nd – Ross Chastain
33rd – Reed Sorenson
34th – Kyle Weatherman
35th – Landon Cassill
36th – J.J. Yeley
37th – Joey Gase
38th – Matt DiBenedetto
39th – David Starr
40th – Corey Lajoie

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The third and final race of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series round of 8 is scheduled to take place next Sunday, November 11 at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. This race, the Can-Am 500, is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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