HAMPTON, Ga. – The driver so good at Atlanta Motor Speedway he had a verb – Harvicking – named for him delivered his crew chief a trophy as a birthday present on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick drove to a dominant victory in the Folds of Honor/QuikTrip 500, notching his third win on the weathered 1.54-mile Atlanta quad-oval with a picture-perfect performance in the race’s final stage.
Harvick took command of the event on lap 218, on the restart that kicked off the last segment, with an outside sweep past Kyle Busch.
From there, he never looked back, staying out in front for the remaining distance aside from the handful of laps after his final green-flag pit stop. Harvick paced 105 of the final 108 laps en route to the win.
The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion led a race-high 151 of 325 laps for his third Atlanta score, second in the last three years and the 51st victory of his career at stock-car racing’s highest level.
Harvick’s triumph moved him past NASCAR Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson into sole possession of 12th on the Cup Series’ all-time win list. It was his second win so far this season.
Following the checkered flag, much like he did after his first two Atlanta wins in 2001 and 2018, Harvick performed a Polish Victory Lap with three fingers aloft out the window – a nod to the late Dale Earnhardt, who Harvick took over for at Richard Childress Racing in 2001 following Earnhardt’s passing.
It’s a tribute that has become a tradition for the Bakersfield, Calif., veteran and Cup Series mainstay.
“I didn’t get a chance to show it very good a couple years ago with my gloves on, so I made sure I took my gloves off this year. Obviously, my first win came here at Atlanta, and this is just a race track that I’ve taken a liking to. You always come back and have those memories, and I wanted to celebrate everything that Dale Earnhardt did for this sport. To come here and be able to do that with wins and go to victory lane is pretty special.”
In terms of the race itself, though Harvick wasn’t the power name through the first two stages on Sunday, he credited his pit crew for helping him be able to capitalize when it came down to go time.
“They had a great pit stop. We got a restart on the bottom and they got my car to take off,” Harvick explained. “I was able to get track position … and then once I could get through those first 10 laps and my car was freed up enough to where I could get in a rhythm and really start hitting my marks, by about lap 25 (in the run) I could start driving away.
“I’m just proud of everybody from Busch Light, Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing. Everybody who helps us on this car gave us a really good piece. We have to shout out to the fans, also,” Harvick added. “We appreciate everything they do for us.”
Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers celebrated his 44th birthday in victory lane, able to enjoy the spoils of a win as well – another factor that contributed to Harvick’s jubilation after the race.
“That’s pretty cool,” noted Harvick. “We struggled most of the day with our car, so he definitely earned his birthday present today. He and our guys did a great job adjusting on our Busch LIght Ford. This is one of my favorite tracks for sure, and I love to win here, so glad we could get the job done here today.”
Kyle Busch passed Martin Truex Jr., who swept the first two stages on Sunday, coming to four laps to go and hung on for second. However, he was a distant 3.527 seconds back of Harvick at the checkered flag.
Truex, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin were third through fifth, respectively, followed by Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, polesitter Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
The two stage wins on Sunday were Truex’s first two stage wins of the season and bumped his career total to 40 since the start of the stage era in 2017 – the most among all drivers in the Cup Series.
Aside from a competition caution at lap 25 and the two stage breaks at laps 105 and 210, the only incidents on Sunday were spins off turn four by John Hunter Nemechek and Michael McDowell at laps 95 and 202, respectively. The final stage ran uninterrupted once racing resumed with 108 to go.
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues Wednesday night, June 10, with the first night race in Martinsville (Va.) Speedway history. Truex is the most-recent winner at the .526-mile short track.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.