Kevin Harvick had the fastest car all afternoon, but had to sweat out overtime to earn the victory at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday.
Harvick led 177 of the 337 laps during the event, and appeared on his way to an easy win after passing leader Ryan Blaney with 17 laps remaining. But a caution for Joey Gase’s spin with three laps remaining set up an overtime restart.
Harvick took the top line on the overtime restart, and after Blaney pulled slightly ahead, Harvick rocketed past him and held on for the victory.
The win earns Harvick an automatic spot in the Championship 4 playoff finale at Homestead. It’s the 2014 NASCAR Cup champion’s fourth appearance in the playoff finale in the past five seasons.
Harvick now has eight victories in 2018, and 45 in his career.
“I’m really really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing for these cars we’ve had for five years now,” Harvick said.
Blaney held on to finish second.
“We got by him on one restart (with 33 laps to go), but I just couldn’t hold him off,” Blaney said. “He motored around me.”
Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
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Monster Energy NASCAR Cup results at Texas
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Joey Logano
4. Erik Jones
5. Kyle Larson
6. Chase Elliott
7. Kurt Busch
8. Aric Almirola
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Austin Dillon
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. Brad Keselowski
13. Paul Menard
14. Alex Bowman
15. Jimmie Johnson
16. William Byron
17. Kyle Busch
18. Ryan Newman
19. Jamie McMurray
20. AJ Allmendinger
21. Trevor Bayne
22. Ty Dillon
23. Chris Buescher
24. David Ragan
25. Bubba Wallace
26. Clint Bowyer
27. Regan Smith
28. Daniel Suarez
29. Michael McDowell
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Parker Kligerman
32. Ross Chastain
33. Reed Sorenson
34. Kyle Weatherman
35. Landon Cassill
36. J.J. Yeley
37. Joey Gase
38. Matt DiBenedetto
39. David Starr
40. Corey LaJoie
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