Kevin Harvick celebrates in victory lane after scoring the win in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Hisense 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR
Kevin Harvick charged back to the lead with a push from JR Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with 25 laps to go, and drove away from pole sitter Joey Logano to score the NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Harvick’s Chevrolet was the class of the field all day, leading 101 of 163 laps. Over the closing circuits, Logano began to close ground, only to have a loose left wheel create enough of a vibration to foil any chances of catching Harvick.
The win is the 45th career series victory for Harvick, and the fourth of his career at Atlanta.
Harvick said the final pit stop was what won the race for his No. 88 team.
“Joey (Logano) probably had a little bit better car in the second half of the run and it really played out for us there and the end as we were able to have that short run and really take off,” said Harvick. “I knew I needed to take off (on the final restart). I thought (Logano’s) car was a little bit better as we got to lap 20 and he started reeling us in.
“Awesome pit stops all day long and we were able to make up some ground on that last pit stop and now we get to enjoy cold Budweiser in victory lane.”
Logano started from the pole, and led the event until the first round of pit stops under green around lap 47. Logano’s stop was marred by a problem on right front, giving Harvick the top spot.
From there, Logano would spend the day chasing Harvick.
Logano said the loose wheel was “a pretty big factor” in Harvick slipping away over the final laps.
“I couldn’t see where I was going, for one,” he said. “That was one problem and then obviously when it’s in the back of the car you definitely lose a lot of rear grip, but you keep your foot in it trying. Once it got really bad I couldn’t keep up with Kevin anymore. Like I said, we were making ground and then it just kept getting worse and you just keep losing ground because the vibration was so big.
“Like I said, you lose grip, you lose sight and nothing good happens from there, but the next one is really bad when the left rear passes you.”
As the race approached its second set of pit stops, a caution would fly on lap 87 for debris in the third turn. Harvick’s pit crew made sure their driver stayed out front, with Logano second, followed by Matt Kenseth, Elliott and Brian Scott. However, Scott would be penalized for too many people over the wall during his pit stop, moving Chris Buescher to fifth.
Harvick would continue to lead the chase as Logano and Kenseth tried to reel him in. In the meantime, Ty Dillon would move his way into the top five as the race approached 50 to go.
With 40 laps to go, Logano began to close on Harvick as the rough Atlanta racing surface began to take its toll on Harvick’s tires. Three laps later, Logano would get the run he needed, as he powered his Ford around Harvick’s Chevy and into the top spot.
Logano began pulling away from there, and appeared to be on his way to a possible victory when the caution flew for the third time on the day, this time for fluid on the backstretch.
Harvick’s pit crew made all the difference, again getting their driver off pit road ahead of Logano, and setting up the final 25 lap sprint to the finish.
Logano would hold on for second, with Dillon matching his finish from last week’s series opener at Daytona International Speedway with a third place effort. Buescher came home in fourth place. Dawsonville, GA’s Chase Elliott stumbled after pushing Harvick to the lead, but came back to finish fifth in front of his hometown crowd.
Paul Menard, Scott, Kenseth, Regan Smith and Kyle Larson rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, GA
Hisense 250 – February 28, 2015
1. (8) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 163, $54649.
2. (1) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 163, $43730.
3. (17) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 163, $35313.
4. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 163, $28507.
5. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 163, $31022.
6. (11) Paul Menard(i), Chevrolet, 163, $21195.
7. (2) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 163, $26872.
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9. (3) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 163, $25547.
10. (4) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 163, $19714.
11. (23) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 162, $24956.
12. (6) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 162, $23853.
13. (12) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 161, $22868.
14. (21) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 161, $22310.
15. (10) Sam Hornish, Jr.(i), Ford, 161, $22533.
16. (19) Ryan Reed, Ford, 161, $22258.
17. (27) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 161, $21982.
18. (14) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 160, $21881.
19. (15) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 160, $21804.
20. (20) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 160, $22203.
21. (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 160, $21627.
22. (25) Blake Koch, Toyota, 160, $21546.
23. (7) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 159, $21470.
24. (26) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, 159, $21369.
25. (16) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 159, $21469.
26. (30) David Starr, Toyota, 159, $21268.
27. (13) John Wes Townley(i), Chevrolet, 156, $15216.
28. (29) Eric McClure, Toyota, 156, $21141.
29. (37) Chris Cockrum, Chevrolet, 156, $21091.
30. (31) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 155, $21289.
31. (36) Cody Ware(i), Dodge, 153, $20934.
32. (34) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 144, $20872.
33. (28) Jimmy Weller, Chevrolet, 140, $20807.
34. (35) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, 130, $20771.
35. (24) Cale Conley #, Toyota, Engine, 128, $20723.
36. (33) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 128, $19260.
37. (38) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Front Hub, 92, $18260.
38. (32) Josh Reaume #, Chevrolet, Electrical, 28, $11260.
39. (39) Carl Long, Toyota, Vibration, 19, $10260.
40. (40) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Suspension, 2, $9260.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 149.813 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 40 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.207 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 12 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano(i) 1-49; M. Kenseth(i) 50-52; K. Harvick(i) 53-126; J. Logano(i) 127-136; K. Harvick(i) 137-163.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Harvick(i) 2 times for 101 laps; J. Logano(i) 2 times for 59 laps; M. Kenseth(i) 1 time for 3 laps.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 83; T. Dillon – 83; R. Reed – 75; D. Wallace Jr. # – 66; D. Armstrong – 57; D. Starr – 56; B. Scott – 56; C. Elliott – 55; R. Chastain # – 55; J. Clements – 53.
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