Kevin Harvick was at the right place at the right time to take the Sunday night win at the nascar cup series playoffs, this comes after putting quite an impressive show to hold off Austin Dillon. This is Harvick’s second win at the Cook Out Southern 500 win at Darlington Raceway in Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff opener.
This is considerably Harvick’s 8th best win in the season but the veteran racer was very emotional on his radio sending congratulatory messages to his team as he crossed the finish line. Instead of taking the checkered flag on the finish line Harvick let an appreciative young fan dressed in a brightly colored Harvick t-shirt keep the flag to himself.
Kevin Harvick also marked his 57th career victory this win being ninth best of all time. His lead for the race came on lap 355 after Chase Elliot(Hendrick Motorsports) and Martin Truex Jr.(Joe Gibbs Racing) made a contact with the wall racing for the lead infront of him.
“The first thing I want to say is ‘Welcome back, fans!’ ” Kevin Harvick said after climbing out of his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
“Just wound up fighting all night long, this Busch Beer Ford Mustang wasn’t where we wanted it to be, but the leaders got tangled up there and next thing you know we were racing for the win….Anytime you can win the Southern 500, it’s a good day. This is one of the most prestigious races in our sport and one of the most prestigious race tracks in our sport. Any time you can win at Darlington it’s a big deal.” The southern 500 winner added.
Joey Logano(Team Penske), Erik Jones(Joe Gibbs Racing) and William Byron(Hendrick Motorsports) ended up being in the top five, as Alex Bowman(Hendrick Motorsports), Kyle Busch(Joe Gibbs Racing), Kurt Busch(Chip Ganassi Racing), Aric Aimirola and Clint Bowyer(both Stewart Haas Racing) rounded up the top ten in the race. Jones was the only non-playoff driver in the top ten.
