The Monster Energy Series returned to superspeedway competition on Sunday and a member of NASCAR’s “Big Three” returned to Victory Lane with Kevin Harvick winning at Michigan International Speedway. Following Chase Elliott’s breakthrough victory on the road course at Watkins Glen International last weekend, Harvick thumped the field on Sunday, winning all three stages and leading 108 of the 200 laps on the way to his 7th victory of 2018. Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. have now combined to win 17 of the year’s first 23 races.
Harvick’s big day on the big oval also paid seven playoff points, moving him ahead of Busch in post-season bonus points. But with a 3rd place finish on Sunday and just three races left in the regular season, Busch still maintains a comfortable lead in the standings that pay an extra 15 bonus playoff points to the regular-season champion. Truex, the other member of the “Big Three,” struggled to a 14th place finish. Clint Bowyer, one of Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, finished 12th in his bid for a season sweep on the two-mile Irish Hills oval.
Harvick’s margin of victory over runner-up Brad Keselowski was 3.2 seconds as Ford swept the top two spots. Busch, Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney completed the top five. Pole winner Denny Hamlin finished outside the top five in each of the first two stages and led just 13 laps en route to an 8th place finish. Bubba Wallace was the highest-finishing rookie in 23rd place.
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– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, North Carolina
1. Kyle Busch @ 986 points
2. Kevin Harvick (-62)
3. Martin Truex, Jr. (-144)
4. Kurt Busch (-236)
5. Clint Bowyer (-254)
6. Joey Logano (-263)
7. Brad Keselowski (-277)
8. Ryan Blaney (-299)
9. Denny Hamlin (-302)
10. Kyle Larson (-305)
For the complete driver standings, please visit the official page on nascar.com.
