Kevin Harvick wins at Texas — again — to earn championship chance
Kevin Harvick will be racing for the Cup Series title once again.
Harvick won Sunday’s race at Texas for his third straight victory in the fall race at Texas. The win means Harvick will be one of the four drivers racing for the Cup Series championship for the fifth time in six seasons. Harvick, the first driver to win a title in NASCAR’s elimination playoff format in 2014, only missed out on the final round of the playoffs in 2016.
Harvick started Sunday’s race on the pole and took the lead from teammate Aric Almirola in the final stage. He drove away from Almirola as the race calmed down in the second and third stages and maintained the lead over the race’s final set of pit stops.
Almirola, his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, finished second. Daniel Suarez, another Stewart-Haas Racing driver, finished third.
“We knew it was a good racetrack for us, felt like it fit the style of our cars, and man, did it,” Harvick said.
Denny Hamlin’s bad day
The first stage was crazy. And the most notable victim of the craziness was Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin, the winner at Kansas two weeks ago, is now 20 points outside the top four thanks to a crash in the first stage when he got loose in turn 4. Hamlin spun off the corner and slid through the infield grass. That grass tore the splitter apart on his car and the front-end damage he sustained ruined his chances at a good finish.
Martin Truex Jr. won a week ago at Martinsville. He and Harvick are guaranteed to be among the four drivers racing for the title. Kyle Busch is currently 22 points ahead of Hamlin while Joey Logano is 20 points ahead of Hamlin in fourth.
Other drivers who had problems in the first stage included Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Elliott crashed out first as he hit the wall early in the race off turn 2. Laps after Elliott’s crash, Keselowski and Stenhouse nearly simultaneously got loose in turn 4 in the traction compound applied to the track and hit the outside wall before coming to a stop in the infield.
Harvick’s 49th win
Harvick has been one of the best drivers of the past decade in NASCAR. Especially since he joined SHR the beginning of the 2014 season. Twenty-six of his 49 victories have come since he moved from Richard Childress Racing to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.
Harvick had to climb his way through the field during the middle of the race. He got a penalty for a fuel-only pit stop because his team had a tire in his pit stall during the stop. NASCAR needs fewer pit road rules.
Let’s add “having a tire in the pit stall" to the list of penalties NASCAR should get rid of going into 2020. pic.twitter.com/fBmqChCjc6
— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) November 3, 2019
While Harvick has raced for the championship in four of the past five seasons, he hasn’t won a title since 2014. Maybe 2019 will be the year he gets a second title.
Points standings
1. Martin Truex Jr. (won at Martinsville)
1. Kevin Harvick (won at Texas)
3. Kyle Busch, 22 points ahead of Denny Hamlin
4. Joey Logano, 20 points ahead of Hamlin
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Ryan Blaney, 23 points behind Logano
7. Kyle Larson, 23 points behind Logano
8. Chase Elliott, 78 points behind Logano
Race results
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Aric Almirola
3. Daniel Suarez
4. Joey Logano
5. Alex Bowman
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Kyle Busch
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Kurt Busch
10. Erik Jones
11. Clint Bowyer
12. Kyle Larson
13. Austin Dillon
14. Matt DiBenedetto
15. Ryan Newman
16. Daniel Hemric
17. William Byron
18. Ty Dillon
19. Chris Buescher
20. Paul Menard
21. John Hunter Nemechek
22. Parker Kligerman
23. Ryan Preece
24. Bubba Wallace
25. Michael McDowell
26. JJ Yeley
27. Landon Cassill
28. Denny Hamlin
29. Joe Nemechek
30. Josh Bilicki
31. Ross Chastain
32. Chase Elliott
33. Quin Houff
34. Jimmie Johnson
35. David Ragan
36. Garrett Smithley
37. Timmy Hill
38. Corey LaJoie
39. Brad Keselowski
40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
– – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports
More from Yahoo Sports:
