{"id":17211,"date":"2018-05-13T00:02:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T05:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=17211"},"modified":"2018-05-13T00:35:27","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T05:35:27","slug":"late-pass-lifts-kevin-harvick-to-victory-lane-at-kansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/13\/late-pass-lifts-kevin-harvick-to-victory-lane-at-kansas\/","title":{"rendered":"Late pass lifts Kevin Harvick to Victory Lane at Kansas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

KANSAS CITY, Kan. \u2013 Kevin Harvick<\/strong>, nicknamed NASCAR\u2019s \u201cCloser,\u201d earned his moniker on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway<\/strong>, passing reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> champion Martin Truex Jr.<\/strong> on the next-to-last lap to add the KC Masterpiece 400 to his collection of victories this season.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Charging from sixth place and chasing race leader Martin Truex Jr. after a restart on Lap 259 of 267, Harvick found speed in the top lane with five laps left and passed Truex on the outside through Turns 3 and 4 on the penultimate lap.<\/p>\n

In winning his second straight race and his fifth in 12 starts this season, Harvick beat Truex to the finish line by .390 seconds. The victory was Harvick\u2019s third at Kansas Speedway, tying him for most ever at the 1.5-mile track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, as you look at the last couple of laps, it wasn\u2019t working for me on the bottom, and I was able to make up some ground on the top,\u201d said Harvick, who will try to win three straight races in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for the second time this season when NASCAR\u2019s top tour goes to Charlotte for the May 27 Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, celebrates after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI thought, if it came down to it, I could pass him on the bottom, because my car went through (Turns) 1 and 2 on the bottom, or I could drive through the middle of 3 and 4, but I just had to pick which lane.  He wasn\u2019t going to choose, and he never chose the high lane, and we were able to drive right by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having taken the lead by staying out on older tires after a caution for an accident involving Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney on Lap 248, Truex thought he could keep Harvick behind him over the closing laps. That proved not to be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were going to be all right there,\u201d said Truex, who was trying for a third straight win at Kansas. \u201cLike three or four laps to go, my car just got real tight, and I chattered the right front off of Turn 4, and I was like, \u2018Oh boy, that\u2019s not good.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, and his team celebrate in victory lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe had been so tight all night, and I didn\u2019t know where to go once he was getting there. If I go to the top, he\u2019s just going to catch me on the bottom. I might as well run where I feel I can run the fastest, and I did, and it just wasn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most violent accident of the night set up the final restart with nine laps left and the dramatic pass for the victory. In Turn 4 on Lap 253, William Byron got loose underneath Clint Bowyer\u2019s Ford and knocked Bowyer up the track. Byron\u2019s No. 24 Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall with a bone-rattling impact that lifted the rear of the car off the pavement.<\/p>\n

Byron\u2019s car landed on the hood of Ryan Newman\u2019s Chevrolet and slid down the track with fire in the engine compartment. All told, seven cars were involved in the wreck, including the No. 6 Ford of Matt Kenseth, who finished 36th<\/sup> in his first race of the season.<\/p>\n

\"\"

KANSAS CITY, KS – MAY 12: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, poses with the winner’s decal after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Byron was shaken but otherwise unhurt after the multicar wreck.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that one hurt really bad,\u201d Byron said. \u201cBut I\u2019m fine. We took two tires there and couldn\u2019t get it turned on the bottom and then got sucked around at the last minute. I just should have been lower on the track than that. \u201cJust couldn\u2019t rotate. Couldn\u2019t cut. I think, overall, we were trying to kind of push some things there and it just didn\u2019t work out. That was definitely the hardest hit I\u2019ve been in. But I\u2019m thankful to be walking, so that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joey Logano ran third, followed by Larson and Denny Hamlin. Larson made a remarkable recovery after he and Blaney made contact in Turn 1 on Lap 248, when Blaney was trying to side-draft aggressively. Blaney, who led 54 laps before the accident, slammed into the Turn 1 wall and exited the race.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, leads the field to green during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

But Larson continued, and he took on fresh rubber under the final caution and charged through the pack to fourth place.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlaney was side-drafting really hard, and I was as high as I could get, and we made contact, whatever, and we had a bunch of damage,\u201d said Larson, who won the second stage and led a race-high 101 laps to Harvick\u2019s 79. \u201cSo I hate that we didn\u2019t turn today into a win, but it\u2019s satisfying to see how much speed our car had tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, it\u2019s definitely good to show that Chevy has a lot of speed, at least in the No. 42 team. So we\u2019ll just keep working hard and try to get as fast as the No. 4.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Menard, Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch completed the top 10. Kyle Busch retained the series lead by 12 points over Logano in second place and 19 over Harvick in third. Brad Keselowski (14th<\/sup> on Saturday) is a distant fourth, 107 points back.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Kevin Harvick, Rodney Childers and Greg Zipadelli – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_Harvick-Zipadelli-Childers_051218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_MENCS_Logano_Truex_051218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

T.J. Semke, Former KU football player and No. 9 Jackman – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_MENCS_Semke_051218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Valentina Shevchenko, UFC’s Flyweight #1 Contender and Honorary Race Official – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_MENCS_Shevchenko_051218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anthony Sherman, Kansas City Chiefs, Honorary Pace Car Driver – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_MENCS_Sherman_051218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Michael Tyler,  Receiver Records Recording Artist and National Anthem Singer – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_MENCS_Tyler_051218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – KC Masterpiece 400<\/b><\/p>\n

Kansas Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Kansas City, Kansas<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, May 12, 2018<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (1) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               2. (7) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

               3. (9) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               4. (22) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

               5. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

               6. (11) Paul Menard, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               7. (12) Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

               8. (8) Kurt Busch, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               9. (4) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               10. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

               11. (16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               12. (17) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

               13. (20) David Ragan, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               14. (5) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               15. (33) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

               16. (18) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

               17. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

               18. (19) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

               19. (23) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 265.<\/p>\n

               20. (36) Michael McDowell, Ford, 265.<\/p>\n

               21. (34) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 264.<\/p>\n

               22. (37) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 263.<\/p>\n

               23. (21) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Chevrolet, 262.<\/p>\n

               24. (27) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 262.<\/p>\n

               25. (31) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 260.<\/p>\n

               26. (28) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 259.<\/p>\n

               27. (30) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 259.<\/p>\n

               28. (14) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 258.<\/p>\n

               29. (29) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 257.<\/p>\n

               30. (15) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, Accident, 253.<\/p>\n

               31. (24) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, Accident, 253.<\/p>\n

               32. (38) * Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 253.<\/p>\n

               33. (13) William Byron #, Chevrolet, Accident, 252.<\/p>\n

               34. (10) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, Accident, 252.<\/p>\n

               35. (32) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 251.<\/p>\n

               36. (35) Matt Kenseth, Ford, Accident, 250.<\/p>\n

               37. (2) Ryan Blaney, Ford, Accident, 247.<\/p>\n

               38. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 247.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  128.395 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 53 Mins, 38 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.390 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  6 for 31 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  13 among 7 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   K. Harvick 1-32; R. Blaney 33-84; K. Harvick 85-123; R. Blaney 124-125; A. Dillon 126-129; K. Harvick 130; K. Larson 131-213; J. Logano 214-215; R. Stenhouse Jr. 216-225; K. Larson 226-243; K. Harvick 244-248; J. Logano 249-252; M. Truex Jr. 253-265; K. Harvick 266-267.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  K. Larson 2 times for 101 laps; K. Harvick 5 times for 79 laps; R. Blaney 2 times for 54 laps; M. Truex Jr. 1 time for 13 laps; R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 10 laps; J. Logano 2 times for 6 laps; A. Dillon 1 time for 4 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,4,2,22,42,10,11,18,41,14<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 42,4,12,18,22,10,41,14,20,78<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Clover\/First Data Chevrolet, leads Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 REV Group Ford, leads Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the #32 Can-Am\/Wholey Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

KANSAS CITY, KS – MAY 12: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, pits during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, leads Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Alliance Truck Parts Ford, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 12, 2018 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS CITY, Kan. \u2013 Kevin Harvick, nicknamed NASCAR\u2019s \u201cCloser,\u201d earned his moniker on Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, passing reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. on the next-to-last lap to add the KC Masterpiece 400 to his collection of victories this season. Charging from sixth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[213,593,95,16],"class_list":["post-17211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kansas-speedway","tag-kc-masterpiece-400","tag-kevin-harvick","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/KS1_MENCS_VictoryLane_051218-e1526187656136.jpg?fit=640%2C427","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-4tB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17211"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17234,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17211\/revisions\/17234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}