Shades of his 2014 season, Kevin Harvick battled Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500. Harvick would go on to capture his first win in the Lone Star State and get one step closer to his second MENCS championship.
Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole showed speed all weekend long with veteran Kurt Busch capturing the pole and Kevin Harvick winning his second race of the season and the 37th of his Cup Series career.
Harvick spoke about his battle with Martin Truex Jr. following Sunday’s win.
“Damn, it’s good to be in Victory Lane here in Texas,” he said. “I knew I had a really good car. I knew I had to do something different. I started driving a whole lot deeper in (Turn) 1, a whole lot deeper.
“I started doing that earlier in the race, but I was afraid I didn’t have the brakes to continue to do that all day. So I waited until the end and was able to get on the outside of Martin (off Turn 2) and got him loose and brushed across the back of him and was able to get by on the outside down there.”
Martin Truex Jr. was able to capture enough points to advance to Homestead as well. He was disappointed by finishing second but Truex will advance into the Championship 4 on points.
“A little disappointed to come up short, but to clinch a spot in Miami is unbelievable. Definitely got the job done today and came here and did what we needed to do,” he said.
With only one spot remaining for Homestead’s championship race, all five playoff drivers will be on edge next Sunday in Phoenix as only one will advance into the championship-deciding race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in less than two weeks.
