Harvick not complaining about second at Pocono

Kevin Harvick took the lead and then lost it in one lap Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

That's because the plan Harvick had fell apart in Turn 3. The No. 4 Ford got loose and went wide in the corner with 16 laps to go, and a charging Kyle Busch was not going to be denied. While Harvick tried to gather himself up, Busch nudged Harvick aside and drove away to a six-second victory.

"In my head I was thinking, all right, we just need to stay on the bottom, and I got sideways going into 3 and tried to park it, and he was going to throttle about the same time and got the back of me a little bit," Harvick said of the lead change. "But that was just me trying to keep it on the bottom.

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"There was no battle; he was in a league of his own there at the end. [He] just got through traffic good, got to us, got around us, gone."

There was little for Harvick to be upset about, though. His Stewart-Haas Racing team qualified sixth earlier in the day and played the strategy right to place themselves in contention. A quick pit stop with 36 laps to go put Harvick in position to run down Denny Hamlin, who appeared to be sitting in the right spot to inherit the lead when the field cycled through the final round of pit stops.

However, Harvick and Hamlin were caught by Busch, who had pitted with 25 laps to go and was cutting through the field on fresher tires. Harvick acknowledged Busch had a much easier time making up ground in clean air as he and Hamlin got caught up in lapped traffic.

By the time Harvick took the lead from Hamlin going into Turn 1, Busch had joined the fray and followed him through. Two corners later, the race was over.

The runner-up finish was not only where Harvick finished in the June Pocono race, but his fourth in the last seven Pocono races. And while many might think he would be frustrated by not having a win at the track, Harvick explained his post-race feelings were quite the opposite.

"I came here for 15 years and I don't think I had a top 10, so I learned a long time ago not to complain about finishing second or third or running good because it's hard to do," Harvick said. "And sometimes you can't do it, and I've been on the other side where you can't do it.

"It's fun to win races, and it's fun to be competitive, and I'm never going to sit up here and complain about finishing second because it's a good accomplishment. The team has been through a lot in switching over to Ford and doing all the things they've done and as competitive as we have been, I think it's a huge credit to great people."