{"id":20631,"date":"2018-07-22T22:17:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T03:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=20631"},"modified":"2018-07-22T22:17:19","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T03:17:19","slug":"kevin-harvick-uses-bump-and-run-to-win-at-new-hampshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/22\/kevin-harvick-uses-bump-and-run-to-win-at-new-hampshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Harvick uses bump-and-run to win at New Hampshire"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, poses for a photo with Loudon the Lobster in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

LOUDON, N.H. \u2013 On two straight laps late in Sunday\u2019s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301<\/strong> Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway<\/strong>, Kevin Harvick<\/strong> nudged the No. 18 Toyota of race leader Kyle Busch<\/strong> with his front bumper.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, crosses the finish line to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Busch retained the lead. But Harvick took more aggressive action on Lap 295 of 301, tagging Busch\u2019s car in the center of Turns 1 and 2. Busch slid up the track as Harvick powered the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the top spot.<\/p>\n

Six laps later, Harvick took a checkered flag for a series-best sixth time this season. He won for the third time at the Magic Mile and the 43rd<\/sup> time in his career, 18th<\/sup> on the career list and one victory behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott.<\/p>\n

Harvick had no regrets about seizing the opportunity to take the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to get there at the end, and I felt like that was best opportunity\u2014do what I had to do to win,\u201d said Harvick, who pulled away to win by 1.877 seconds. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to wreck him, but I didn\u2019t want to waste a lot of time behind him.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, celebrates with a burnout after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI knew I was running out of laps, and I didn\u2019t know if I was going to get to him again. I felt like I needed to get him up out of the groove, so I got him up out of the groove.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to a blistering stop by his pit crew, Busch grabbed the lead for a restart on Lap 263, after Clint Bowyer pounded the outside wall to bring out the seventh and final caution of the race. Controlling the restart, Busch pulled away to a lead of more than one second before Harvick began to track him down.<\/p>\n

Busch acknowledged that he didn\u2019t have the best car, particularly on the long runs.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) made some really good calls, some really good adjustments to keep trying to improve on it. Pit road was flawless, they gave us all those spots on pit road to get us out front and put us in that position and have a shot at the win.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 22, 2018 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe controlled the restart, drove away by a little bit, but we weren\u2019t the best car on the long run. The SHR cars were all really good today. They were fast. It was going to be hard to hold them off.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the contact on Lap 295, Busch was philosophical.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of backing up\u2014three, four, five corners in a row\u2014and he had the faster car,\u201d Busch said. \u201cHarvick was using me up for about six corners in a row. I\u2019m not sure he had to do it, but he did. It\u2019s fine. How you race is how you get raced, so it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aric Almirola, Harvick\u2019s Stewart-Haas teammate, finished third after leading 42 laps. Almirola\u2019s undoing was a pit stop under caution on Lap 258, when trouble with the left front tire dropped the No. 10 Ford from first to third for the Lap 263 restart.<\/p>\n

Almirola then spun his tires on the restart and dropped to sixth before fighting his way back to third.<\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. ran fourth after winning Stage 1, and Chase Elliott secured the fifth position after taking the green\/checkered flag at the end of Stage 2. Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, pole winner Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch retained the series lead by 53 points over Harvick, but Harvick ran his Playoff point total to a series best 32 to Busch\u2019s 30.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/MENCS_NHMS_WinnerHarvick_072218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aric Almirola – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/MENCS_NHMS_3rdPlaceAlmirola_072218.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – Foxwoods Resort Casino 301<\/b><\/p>\n

New Hampshire Motor Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Loudon, New Hampshire<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, July 22, 2018<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (14) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               2. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 301.<\/p>\n

               3. (13) Aric Almirola, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               4. (2) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 301.<\/p>\n

               5. (10) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               6. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               7. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               8. (1) Kurt Busch, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               9. (19) Joey Logano, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               10. (21) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               11. (8) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               12. (20) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               13. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 301.<\/p>\n

               14. (11) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               15. (31) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               16. (7) Erik Jones, Toyota, 301.<\/p>\n

               17. (12) Paul Menard, Ford, 301.<\/p>\n

               18. (22) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               19. (26) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 301.<\/p>\n

               20. (24) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 300.<\/p>\n

               21. (17) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 300.<\/p>\n

               22. (9) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 300.<\/p>\n

               23. (25) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 300.<\/p>\n

               24. (27) Bubba Wallace #, Chevrolet, 299.<\/p>\n

               25. (32) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 298.<\/p>\n

               26. (29) Michael McDowell, Ford, 298.<\/p>\n

               27. (33) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 298.<\/p>\n

               28. (28) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 298.<\/p>\n

               29. (30) David Ragan, Ford, 298.<\/p>\n

               30. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 296.<\/p>\n

               31. (35) * Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 294.<\/p>\n

               32. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 293.<\/p>\n

               33. (37) Blake Jones, Toyota, 289.<\/p>\n

               34. (36) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

               35. (15) Clint Bowyer, Ford, Accident, 255.<\/p>\n

               36. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 19.<\/p>\n

               37. (34) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Accident, 13.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  110.49 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  02 Hrs, 52 Mins, 56 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.877 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  7 for 31 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  10 among 7 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   Kurt Busch 1-37; R. Stenhouse Jr. 38-48; M. Truex Jr. 49-131; C. Elliott 132-154; Kurt Busch 155-211; A. Almirola 212-228; K. Harvick 229-232; A. Almirola 233-257; K. Harvick 258; Kyle Busch 259-294; K. Harvick 295-301.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Kurt Busch 2 times for 94 laps; M. Truex Jr. 1 time for 83 laps; A. Almirola 2 times for 42 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 36 laps; C. Elliott 1 time for 23 laps; K. Harvick 3 times for 12 laps; R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 11 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 78,9,48,41,12,18,4,14,22,10<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,41,78,4,10,18,14,48,12,22<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. \u2013 On two straight laps late in Sunday\u2019s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick nudged the No. 18 Toyota of race leader Kyle Busch with his front bumper. Busch retained the lead. But Harvick took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20589,"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":[95,16,466],"class_list":["post-20631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kevin-harvick","tag-nascar","tag-new-hampshire-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/356895-e1532315493668.jpg?fit=640%2C438","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5mL","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20631","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=20631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20632,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20631\/revisions\/20632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}