|
 He earned a fourth consecutive win and seventh of his career at the
track, including five in the past six races in Avondale.
"This is a really special place -- all these West Coast races -- for
us to win," said Harvick, a native of Bakersfield, Calif.
The victory also extended Harvick's string top-two finishes to
seven, dating back to the final three races of 2014.
"It's almost scary how well things are going," Harvick said. "You
don't want to talk about it too much because you want it to keep
going, but I'm just really proud of these guys on this team and
everything that they do."
Jamie McMurray finished second, Ryan Newman third and Kasey Kahne
fourth.
"It was a really good day for our Cessna/McDonald's Chevy," McMurray
said. "We ran fifth to eighth all day long. (Crew chief) Matt McCall
made a really good decision at the end to stay out and got us on the
front row. That was a fun battle with Kevin."
The top-four finishers were among those who stayed out during the
second-to-last caution, the ninth of the race, with 24 laps
remaining in the 312-lap event.
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Harvick and Kurt Busch ran one-two,
with Harvick leading, after Busch took second from Joey Logano on a
restart just past the 200-lap mark. They occupied the top two spots
until Busch gave up second to pit during the ninth caution.
Busch was able to drive back into the top five to finish fifth in
his first race after having his NASCAR suspension lifted.
"It means I've got a strong team," Busch said. "And personally, it's
great to get back to them and produce a result like this on our
first day back. It's a quality car."
Harvick and Joey Logano combined to lead all laps before yellow-flag
pit stops on lap 119. Logano took the lead from pole-sitter Harvick
at the start of the race, but Harvick retook the spot on lap 28.
Brad Keselowski became the third driver to lead the race by taking
two tires and getting off pit road first on lap 119. Harvick
restarted fifth and Logano eighth.
[to top of second column] |
Harvick retook the lead 45 laps later. Logano wasn't able to follow
Harvick back to the front under green, but he retook the lead by
taking two tires during the next caution on lap 181. Harvick, on
four, was able to get back by him on lap 199.
Keselowski finished sixth, and Martin Truex Jr. was seventh. Logano
passed both Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon on the final lap for eighth.
Larson wound up ninth and Gordon 10th.
"That is not quite where we wanted to be there at the end," Logano
said. "Todd (Gordon, crew chief) made a gutsy call there at the end
to put four on it, and we were back to 16th there with 12 to go and
really, at that point, he was leaving it up to me to be aggressive,
and we were able to pass a lot of cars to get up to eighth.
"Getting a top-10 is great, but we want to win some more. We just
didn't quite have the speed."
NOTES: Kevin Harvick led the most laps for the third consecutive
race at Phoenix. ... Only four drivers led laps -- Kevin Harvick
(224), Joey Logano (35), Brad Keselowski (52) and Jamie McMurray
(1). ... After a pit-road speeding penalty and a blown right-rear
tire, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished outside the top five for the first
time in 2015. He wound up last in the 43-car field. ... Tony Stewart
was inside the top 10 and having his best race of the season before
wrecking on lap 237 and again with 24 to go. He finished 39th. ...
Logano dominated and won the Xfinity Series race at Phoenix on
Saturday. The top four in that race were Sprint Cup regulars --
Logano, Matt Kenseth, Harvick and Austin Dillon.
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