After ending a 65-race winless streak last weekend, Kevin Harvick secured his second consecutive victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Richmond Raceway.
Harvick led the final 48 laps around the short track, but almost ran out of time as Christopher Bell charged to a second-place finish on fresher tires and crossed the finish line .441 seconds behind Harvick.
Bell had passed Chris Buescher with five laps to go. If the race had been one lap longer, he may have had a chance to pass Harvick.
“I knew he was coming, but I forgot to shift down the front straightaway the last time,” Harvick said. “I was not paying attention and he got closer than he should have. I made a mistake there a couple laps doing the same thing. I wasn’t shifting on the back and I was shifting in the front. There was a lot going on, and made a couple mistakes, let him get too close.”
Following his win at Michigan International Speedway last Sunday, Harvick’s victory gives him 60 career NASCAR Cup wins. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver now has four career Richmond wins, tying him with Denny Hamlin for second most among active drivers.
“It’s like I said last week, the cars have been running good week in and week out, and you see that we have a lot better understanding of what’s going on with how we adjusted on the car after the first run and were able to get our car handling a lot better,” Harvick said. “I think as it got dark, the racetrack really came to (us).”
For Bell, his runner-up finish is his third top five in the last five races, including his win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I got held up a little bit there on the front side, and I guess when you’re splitting hairs like that, that probably cost me the race,” Bell said. “That’s two races in a row here at Richmond. At the beginning of the year we kind of had that same strategy and barely missed fifth coming to the line, and today it was the win.
“Really, really proud of Adam Stevens, this entire 20 group. The Rheem Camry didn’t feel very good at the beginning and we had our fair share of troubles, and pit crew really came through at the end there with some blazing stops and allowed us to get in front of (Denny Hamlin) who was on the same strategy as us and get up there and contend.”
Bell’s result came after he caused the final caution on Lap 250. He was racing through Turn 4 when his No. 20 Toyota caught the apron and went into a spin.
“I fenced it early on whenever I was running really high … definitely an eventful day,” Bell said.
Buescher wound up third for his second top five of the season. It’s his first top five on a non-superspeedway or road course since the 2016 Bristol night race.
Click here for the race results.
The No. 17 team earned RFK Racing its first top-three finish at Richmond since Carl Edwards won there in 2013.
The top five was completed by spring Richmond winner Hamlin and Chase Elliott. Joey Logano, who led a race-high 222 laps, finished sixth. It was Logano who Harvick passed to take the lead after a lengthy battle.
“I think just as the sun went down and the track cooled off and lost some turn on our car,” Logano said. “(Harvick) and some others got a lot better the last couple of runs in the race. When it was hot and slick that was probably our strength with the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang. We had good turn and then once it cooled off, we lost the turn, but still weren’t really good on the exits. Then you start playing defense and running too hard. It was a downhill slope from there. I was hoping for a late race caution, that was our only prayer at the end there. Overall, we got a stage win and playoff points and that is something to be proud of. It stinks when you say we led 222 laps but not the right one.”
With the last 143 laps ran under green, only 11 cars finished on the lead lap.
The first caution of the race came on Lap 4 when Tyler Reddick spun as he entered Turn 3.
Ross Chastain, who started second, led every lap of the first stage and won it over Hamlin by about . 4 seconds.
Chastain kept the lead through the pit stops.
On the Lap 79 restart, Hamlin tried to pressure Chastain going into Turn 1, and then shot up the track, dropping him to fifth. Two laps later, Logano passed Chastain on the outside as the exited Turn 4 to take the lead. In the spring race, the first lead change didn’t happen until Lap 129.
Chastain would fall to fourth over the next few laps.
On Lap 125, Logano began green flag pit stops. He was joined by Truex and Chastain. The next lap, Larson and Hamlin hit pit road.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s team elected to run long, and was passed for the lead by Logano on Lap 134.
When the cycle was over, Logano led over Larson and Hamlin.
Stenhouse would finally attempt to pit on Lap 156, but he missed the entrance. As Stenhouse tried to return to the track, he sideswiped Truex as he raced through the turn. Stenhouse pit the next time by, but was penalized for speeding.
With 59 laps left in the second stage, the second round of green flag stops began with Buescher and Hamlin leading the charge. When the cycle was over, Logano was once again in the lead, 2.7 seconds ahead of Larson.
Truex, who entered the race as the first driver beneath the playoff cutline, was one lap down in 17th after the cycle.
Ty Gibbs had to visit pit road on Lap 184 for smoke coming from his No. 45 Toyota. The team pushed the car to the garage, resulting in Gibbs’ first career DNF. Gibbs was making his fourth start in place of the injured Kurt Busch.
With 36 laps left in the stage, there were 13 cars on the lead lap. Chastain, who won the first stage, was the last car on the lead lap. Truex spent much of the run trying to run down Logano to unlap himself. With 11 laps to go, Daniel Suarez got by Logano to get one lap back. One lap later, Truex finally got by Logano to unlap himself.
Logano held on to win Stage 2 over Larson by .8 seconds after leading 139 of the first 231 laps.
On pit road, Larson’s crew was able to get him out ahead of Logano. On the ensuing restart on Lap 243, Kyle Busch and Chastain both spun. Busch due to contact by Chastain from behind and Chastain after Erik Jones got into his left rear.
“We got Chastain’d this week. We were his victim this week,” Busch said after he went on to finish ninth.
Ross Chastain into Kyle Busch = CRASH.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 14, 2022
Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. are also involved. #NASCAR
📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/iIc36j7Lix
Logano kept the lead on that restart and the following one, as Kevin Harvick cracked the top three for the first time.
With 149 laps to go, Bell brought out the fifth caution when he spun on his own in Turn 4 after catching the edge of the apron.
During the caution, Blaney, Hamlin, Wallace, Ty Dillon and Truex pit. The top five on the next restart was Logano, Larson, Harvick, Briscoe and Almirola. Chastain restarted ninth and Busch was 10th.
When the green flag waved, Logano retained the lead. He wouldn’t give it up until Harvick claimed it from him.