Kevin Harvick has mastered the fall race at Texas Motor Speedway. On Sunday, he won his third-straight AAA Texas 500 and joined Martin Truex Jr., the previous weekend’s race winner at Martinsville Speedway, in securing slots in the championship four for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17. Sunday’s win was Harvick’s 49th-career victory, tying him with car owner and former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.
“Well, we've already been going down the road [to the championship race],” Harvick said. “They've already built the car, picked a direction. Like we talked about earlier, we've got so many things that ‑‑ so many things that you had to choose from from an aero standpoint, and Homestead is such a unique racetrack. We've already been to the simulator; we've already built the car, and now we've just got to make sure that we do what we think is right and go with our gut and see what happens.”
Stewart-Haas Racing swept the top-three of the finishing order, with Harvick’s teammates Aric Almirola and Daniel Suarez following him to the checkered flag in second and third.
“Our Smithfield Ford Mustang was really fast,” Almirola said. “I am really proud of the effort by everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing, Roush Yates Engines and Ford Motor Company. Our cars were really, really good from the time we unloaded here, and we all came with a little something different, just trying to learn and get ahead for next year. I think we learned some stuff. I am really proud of all the guys on my team. We have had such a bad run of luck the last two months, and it is so nice to come here and just execute all night and have a fast car, lead laps and win a stage and run up front. We had a great night on pit road. I did my part on restarts and on and off pit road and just an all-around solid night. We can build on that.”
Joey Logano finished fourth, second among playoff drivers, to give Ford the top-four in the finishing order, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-five
Harvick led a race-high 119 of the 334 laps that made up the race but was in the back early in the final stage of the race after a penalty for his pit crew having equipment over the pit wall too early. He got back inside the top-10 on lap 225. He was in the top-three when the 11th and final caution of the race came out on lap 242 for Darrell Wallace Jr. about halfway through a green-flag cycle of stops. Harvick, having not pitted under green, headed for pit road during the caution and was the fourth off pit road.
“Well, we had a bad restart one time when we got buried back there, but I think as we came in, we put another set of tires on, we were really able to make up some time,” Harvick said. ”Our car was just so fast through [turns] three and four, as long as I could keep my momentum up, I could get up beside him. So it was definitely fast, and speed made up for our Ducks Unlimited Busch Beer Ford Mustang tonight what we lacked a little bit in handling.”
Almirola and Suarez were on pit road when the caution came out but managed to stay on the lead lap and cycled to first and second when others pitted under yellow. Harvick took second from Suarez on lap 251, and on lap 256, he took the lead from Almirola.
Harvick led most of the remaining laps of the race, except for a handful of laps led by Kyle Busch before Busch made his final stop and ran out of fuel on pit road.
Suarez and Almirola combined to lead most of the laps early in the final 164-lap stage of the race. Suarez took the lead on lap 179 after a fuel-only stop during the caution after the second stage. Almirola moved up to second on lap 198 for an SHR one-two and passed Suarez for the lead on lap 202.
Harvick won the opening stage after leading 43 of the 85 laps that made up the stage. His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer was second at stage-end after leading 36 laps.
A caution-filled first stage resulted in varying pit strategies. Harvick and Erik Jones ran one-two in the opening laps of the race before Jones gave up second to pit for fuel only during a lap14 debris caution. Harvick gave up the lead to make his first pit stop, a fuel-only stop, during a caution for Corey LaJoie on lap 43.
Jones was back up front temporarily when Harvick pitted, but Bowyer took the lead on lap 49. Harvick got back up to second in the running order on lap 64. Harvick took his stage-winning lead during a one-lap, green-flag run to end the stage.
Casualties during the first-stage wreck-fest included playoff drivers Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Elliott hit the wall on lap nine but was able to continue in the race after repairs, several laps down and significantly slower than the front runners. Keselowski wrecked on lap 54, and Stenhouse also wrecked in his attempt to avoid Keselowski. Both retired from the race as a result of the incident.
“I just busted my butt,” Keselowski said. “I feel terrible for Ricky; he didn’t deserve to get caught up in it. I was just real loose and trying to make something happen. When you are getting passed by other cars, you kind of lose your confidence, and you try something, and I knew better. My butt told me I would wreck if I do that. I was getting passed and swung for the fence, and I hit it. It just sucks. I am kind of embarrassed to do that. I was just trying to make something happen for my team and swung too hard.”
Hamlin spun into the crash in the closing laps of the opening stage. His car got slightly airborne and sustained significant damage underneath.
SHR swept the stage-win opportunities in Sunday’s race with Almirola taking the second-stage win at lap 170. And unlike the first stage, the second stage ran caution-free.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Bowman and Jimmie Johnson were up front at the beginning of the second stage after staying out during the caution between the two 85-lap stages. Johnson took the lead from his teammate on lap 99, and five laps later, Almirola took second from Bowman.
Johnson and Almirola battled for the lead before a cycle of green-flag pit stops began around lap 135. The stage was a lengthy one, with Kyle Busch taking the lead on lap 155, not yet having made his green-flag stop. Busch waited until the final 10 laps of the second stage to stop for fuel only, and Almirola inherited the lead.
Johnson led 40 laps in the second stage before spinning and hitting the wall early in the 164-lap final stage. He continued for awhile but retired after failing to meet NASCAR’s minimum speed requirement.
Five playoff drivers finished in the top-10. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Busch and Truex finished sixth and seventh, despite Truex sitting on pit road with his hood up and one point in the race. Ryan Blaney was eighth. Drivers already eliminated from the playoffs, Kurt Busch and Jones, finished ninth and 10th.
Playoff driver Kyle Larson joined Elliott and Hamlin outside the top-10 with 12th-place finish. Hamlin wound up 28th and Elliott 32nd.
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