NASCAR: Harvick advances with Loudon win

Kevin Harvick won at New Hampshire to advance to the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup round of 12 stage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Harvick continued where he left off in Chicagoland with his aggressive approach, moving up to third by two-thirds distance after starting 19th on the grid.

"One of our main goals this year was to not stress ourselves out so bad," Harvick said. "I feel like the performance of the car and the things that we're doing are good enough to be competitive, and we just need to not make mistakes and go from there."

He traded places with defending champion Kyle Busch but after the penultimate restart, Harvick moved into second behind Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth, who was aiming to be the first driver to win three consecutive races at New Hampshire.

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Harvick passed Kenseth on the final restart with five laps to go, hanging onto the lead to take the checkered flag.

"Man, that worked out really good," said Harvick, who won for the second time at Loudon. "The car was pretty good on the restarts. Once we got clean air there at the end, it wound up being really good up front. I'm just really proud of our team. They did a great job."

Kenseth was told by NASCAR before the final restart not to slow down in the restart zone, which they believed he had done on the previous restart. 

"They made it sound like I slowed down the last time," Kenseth said. "But in my opinion, the leader is always supposed to have the advantage. He's the leader. He earned that advantage. They said I slowed down a little bit last time, which I've got to re-watch it.

"I don't really think I did, but if I did at all, it's because the inside car (Truex) was laying back a little bit, and you want to make sure he gets up to your nose so it's a fair restart. If he's back at your door and anticipates a little bit, it's not a fair restart. He's going to be equal to you or a little bit better."

"[On the final restart] I saw Kevin at my door, and I should have known better," Kenseth added. "I should have went deep in the box and waited, and the acceleration was probably better down there anyway, but I didn't. I went right at the first line, and he anticipated a little bit of that and got rolling good through the gears, and then I got through the gears bad. I spun the tires in second (gear), I spun the tires in third, so I had a really bad restart besides all that."

Kyle Busch finished third as his gamble to take an extra pit stop compared to many of the Chase competitors gave him rubber to charge through the field.

Former champions Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch were out of contention for much of the race but benefitted from the final caution flag stops to take fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Polesitter Carl Edwards finished sixth overall, picking up a late-race penalty for crossing into the pit entry too late, hampering his chances of victory.

Furniture Row driver Martin Truex Jr. was the pacesetter for much of the race but the decision was made by the crew of Truex to only change two tires instead of four at the second set of caution pit stops so a few laps after the restart, Kenseth seized the lead.

Truex then dropped down to seventh ahead of Jimmie Johnson as he was overtaken on his final two restarts, having chosen the inside line when the outside of the track had more grip.

Non-Chase driver Kasey Kahne was forced to start at the back, but his charge through the field and timing at pit stops allowed him to progress to ninth place.

Kyle Larson was fastest in all three practice sessions but failed to convert this into race pace – coming home 10th ahead of Joey Logano.

Chase Elliott finished 13th, having been in the top five for much of the race while Denny Hamlin looked set to finish in the top 10 for 10 consecutive races for the first time in his career. But a series of pit lane penalties near the end of the race ended his hopes of continuing that streak.

Austin Dillon had a strong end to the race to take 16th while fellow Chase contender Jamie McMurray lost out in the final pit stops to finish 19th.

Tony Stewart and Chris Buescher had races to forget as they finished well outside the top 20, leaving them in real danger of not making the round of 12 stage of the Chase.

RESULT

Originally on Autosport.com

Quotes courtesy NASCAR Wire Service