Kevin Harvick wins another NASCAR race as Jimmie Johnson fights for a postseason spot

Kevin Harvick won the regular NASCAR season before Sunday’s race reached the final stage. Then he won the race.

“What a year,” Harvick told NBCSN after his seventh win of the season.

“What a seven years,” Harvick added, referring to his Cup Series championship in 2014.

Harvick gained enough stage points in the second Drydene 311 Cup race at Dover International Speedway to win the regular season before the final pre-playoff race at Daytona next weekend. The No. 4 Ford driver stayed up front and closed the first and second stages in first place, then he put over three seconds between him and second-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. at the checkered flag.

Harvick attributed his success this season to the “grit” of his Stewart-Haas Racing team. With the regular season victory, the Ford driver gained 15 additional playoff points.

“With Denny winning yesterday we needed to win today and we’re gonna need all the points we can get,” Harvick said on NBCSN.

Saturday’s Dover race winner, Denny Hamlin, was in the hunt running in the top-five in the final stage, but with under 80 laps left, Hamlin was forced to pit for a loose wheel and went a lap down. Hamlin finished in 19th.

Daytona road course winner Chase Elliott was out of the conversation, and out of the race, even earlier. Nine laps in, Logano tapped the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No 47 Chevrolet, spinning the driver to the inside wall and forcing drivers behind him to check up. That caused contact between the front of Elliott’s No. 9 and the rear of Kyle Busch’s 18. Elliott wasn’t able to keep running with the damage and headed to the garage. After a top-10 finish the day before, Stenhouse Jr. was also out of the race.

ONE TO GO

Busch finished 11th while Kurt Busch finished 13th. The Busch brothers are ranked 12th and 13th, respectively, and are locked into the postseason in points, as is Aric Almirola (ranked 11th). Ten drivers, including Cole Custer and Austin Dillon, are locked into playoffs with at least one race win. Others have just one more regular season race at Daytona’s superspeedway next weekend to make that jump.

The playoff bubble battle continues for two Hendrick drivers, Jimmie Johnson and William Byron, after both notched top-five finishes Sunday at Dover. They finished in third and fourth place, respectively.

“Neither of us want to be in this position,” Johnson said of the No. 24 team. His former championship-winning crew chief Chad Knaus works with Byron. “And I think we both know that here we are with one race left and it feels like everything is on the line.”

But Johnson said both teams have missed opportunities in races earlier this season. He mentioned his disqualification at Charlotte earlier this year and the race at Indianapolis that he was unable to compete in due to his positive COVID-19 test.

Still, after an eight-place finish in the first stage Sunday, Johnson fought back from a speeding penalty late in Stage 2. He dug in for a ninth place finish after restarting at the rear to close the stage. Byron, though, stayed ahead of him early. The No. 24 Chevrolet driver finished the first two stages in third and sixth.

Then came a bold call from the 48’s crew chief Cliff Daniels.

A late caution was called for Corey LaJoie with 22 laps left. The leaders pitted to change tires and Johnson’s team took only two new ones while other teams took all four. Johnson emerged first off pit road and was the leader when the race went green with 17 laps left.

Johnson fell to the speed and fresh tires of Harvick and Truex Jr. in the final laps, but he was able to stay ahead of Byron chasing him down to the checkered flag. With points doled out, however, Johnson still sits four behind Byron in 17th driver as the first driver to miss the playoff cutoff.

“To run in the top-five, to run in the top-10, we should have been doing this all year long and not have to worry about points going into Daytona,” Johnson said. “So I’m pretty bummed about that.”

No. 21 driver Matt DiBenedetto, in 15th, dropped to five points over Byron after a 17th place finish at Dover. He summarized his emotions in a tweet: Ten red angry faces.