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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series “TicketGuardian 500”

Three-Peat for Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick continued an early-season march through the NASCAR schedule with his third straight victory on Sunday, winning the TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway in Phoenix. Harvick’s path to victory was much different in Arizona than the one he had traveled the previous two weeks in which he led two-thirds of the laps run. On Sunday, he led twice for just 38 laps. But Harvick had his #4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in front over the final 22 circuits to notch his 40th Cup Series win, nine of which have come at ISM Raceway, including seven of the last twelve dating back to the 2012 season.

Sunday’s success came on the heels of a major penalty last week for rule violations in Las Vegas that cost Harvick 20 points and knocked him down from first place to third in the regular-season standings. With Sunday’s win, Harvick returns to the top spot and will carry a twelve-point lead over Kyle Busch into next weekend’s race in Fontana, California. Not only is Busch second in the point standings. He ran second to Harvick in Sunday’s race, falling 0.27 of a second short at the finish after winning the opening stage and leading a race-high 128 laps. It was Busch’s second straight runner-up showing.

Chase Elliott finished third with Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex, Jr. completing the top five. Kurt Busch won Stage-2 and finished 10th overall. In fact, all four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers were among the top ten: Harvick, Busch, Clint Bowyer (6th) and Aric Almirola (7th). Sunday’s race included 15 lead changes among nine drivers. There were six cautions for 36 laps.

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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, North Carolina

 

Top 10 Drivers in the Standings as of 3/12/2018

1. Kevin Harvick @ 168 points
2. Kyle Busch (-12)
3. Martin Truex, Jr. (-12)
4. Joey Logano (-16)
5. Ryan Blaney (-16)
6. Denny Hamlin (-31)
7. Brad Keselowski (-34)
8. Kyle Larson (-37)
9. Clint Bowyer (-43)
10. Aric Almirola (-45)

For the complete driver standings, please visit the official page on nascar.com.

 

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