Harvick nails down spot in final four with win

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kevin Harvick claimed his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of 2017 and clinched his spot in the Championship Four with his victory on Sunday in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Harvick passed Martin Truex Jr.to take the lead with nine laps remaining.

“This feels so good,” Harvick said. “We have been qualifying well here and racing well ever since I have been at Stewart-Haas Racing and just never got it to work out to go to Victory Lane. Today we had to earn it.

“To be able to pass the 78 car (Truex) for the win is something that is huge for our confidence and team, knowing we need to go to another 1.5 mile at Homestead to race for the championship. I am really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford. This thing was a hot rod today.”

Truex finished second and also clinched the opportunity to race for the championship in the season finale by virtue of points.

“It’s unbelievable,” Truex said. “Awesome season and can’t thank everybody enough — Bass Pro Shops, Toyota, TRD, Furniture Row, Denver Mattress. It was hot out there today. Just everybody and all our partners. Everybody that helps us, we couldn’t do it without them. It’s been an amazing season, and I love this team. We’re excited for Homestead; we had a great test down there, and looking forward to going down there and getting another win.”

Denny Hamlin finished third, Matt Kenseth was fourth and Brad Keselowski got by teammate Joey Logano on the final lap to round out the top five.

Truex and Kenseth traded the lead back and forth on restarts early in the second half of the race. Truex claimed the lead on a restart with just under 90 laps remaining.

Hamlin reclaimed the lead with a pit strategy of taking two tires during a caution with about 65 laps remaining, but when the yellow waved again on lap 283, Truex jumped in front on the restart that followed.

Harvick and Kyle Larson were winners in the two 85-lap stages that made up the first 170 laps of the 334-lap race.

Hamlin started on the pole and led the first 41 laps. Larson also led before and after a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Harvick then took the lead on lap 70 and drove on to the opening-stage win.

Hamlin and Harvick both led in the early laps of the second stage before Larson reclaimed the lead on a restart that followed a lap-93 caution and dominated the second stage.

Larson struggled in the second half of the race. He made two pit stops because of a missing wheel spacer during the fifth caution of the race, despite having recently pitted during a green-flag cycle of stops.

Larson then made hard contact with the wall, bringing out the eighth caution of the race on lap 283. The race was red-flagged for cleanup.

“Just can’t really execute,” Larson said. “Whether it’s bad pit stops or bad luck with whatever happened to our right front, we had a loose wheel and then had to pit a couple of times to fix it. We just gave up track position.

“We took the best car and just whatever, I don’t know, it’s frustrating, because I know I had the best car and lose track position and that is what happens. You try and move forward, and it’s so hard to pass here; you try and find some stuff and get in the wall.”

Three playoff drivers found themselves off the lead lap early in the race.

Keselowski and Kyle Busch made contact on the first lap that sent them both to pit road and at least a lap down.

Busch, though, already had clinched his position in the Championship Four, courtesy of his win a week ago at Kansas Speedway.

Keselowski got back on the lead lap early in the second stage. By lap 200, he was inside the top five, due in part to pit strategy.

“We had a pretty good car,” Keselowski said. “Something happened on lap one and, basically, we started the race last and a lap and a half down. That cost us a bunch of stage points, but we rallied with a solid effort to get back to fifth. I’m happy for that.”

Busch also eventually got back on the lead lap and was inside the top 10 by 100 laps to go. He wound up 19th at the finish, though.

Jimmie Johnson fell off the lead lap when he made an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration before lap 70. By the end of the second stage, he was three laps down. He finished 27th.

“We’ve got to figure something out,” Johnson said. “Kansas was a lot like this. It was just extremely difficult to drive the car and carry entry speed. And then, we had a loose wheel and then contact on a restart. We started off in a hole and just kept digging a deeper one as we went.

“I’m definitely disappointed, and I honestly just feel bad for my team. These guys are working so hard. And to work this hard and not see any speed go back in the car and have bad results as the last three weeks have been is pretty disappointing.”

Busch and Johnson were the only two playoff drivers who finished outside the top 10.

Keselowski currently leads the chase to join Truex, Busch and Harvick in the Championship Four. Still in contention for that spot are Hamlin (19 points back), Ryan Blaney (22), Chase Elliott (49) and Johnson (51).

NOTES: Erik Jones dominated and won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers claimed the top three positions in the finishing order, with Ryan Blaney finishing second and Kyle Larson third. … Carl Edwards won last year’s AAA Texas 500. … Jimmie Johnson won at Texas earlier this season. He is the career wins leader at Texas with seven victories. … Kurt Busch’s pole-winning lap in qualifying Friday set a record for the fastest qualifying lap at a 1.5-mile track. Five drivers surpassed 200 mph in qualifying. … All playoff drivers except Chase Elliott qualified in the top 10. Elliott started 34th after his car was one of seven that failed to get through pre-qualifying inspection in time. … Matt Kenseth revealed Saturday at Texas that he is stepping away from NASCAR competition in 2018. … Paul Menard did not practice or qualify his car at Texas. Daniel Hemric subbed for Menard in practice and qualifying while Menard took a brief paternity leave after the birth of his second child. Menard started the race in the back because of the driver change.