Harvick Delivers Third-Place Finish at Kansas
Driver of No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang Scores 23rd Top-10 of Season
Date: Oct. 24, 2021
Event: Hollywood Casino 400 (Round 34 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)
Start/Finish: 11th / 3rd (Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 9th with 2,293 points
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):
● Kevin Harvick started 11th and finished sixth, earning five bonus points.
● Harvick wheeled his No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang into the eighth spot by lap 10 just before the race was red-flagged for a brief rain shower. Racing resumed on lap 16.
● When the competition caution came out on lap 24, Harvick reported his car was “just too tight everywhere.”
● Pitted for four tires and fuel during the competition caution.
● Lined up 16th for lap-28 restart as some drivers took fuel only during their respective pit stops.
● Harvick cracked the top-10 on lap 33 when the cars of Martin Truex Jr., and Brad Keselowski got out of shape in front of him.
● Harvick rose to fifth by lap 39.
● “I need the front to turn better, but I can’t afford to lose any more rear grip,” said Harvick while running fifth on lap 63.
● Harvick finished the stage in sixth, whereupon he keyed the mic and said, “The longer we ran, the worse it got.”
● Pitted for four tires and fuel with a slight tire pressure adjustment at the end of the stage.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
● Harvick started sixth and finished fifth, earning six bonus points.
● Harvick picked up fourth place just after the restart and then settled his No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang into the fifth spot.
● “I’m tighter taking off more than I was the run before,” said Harvick on lap 98 after dropping to sixth.
● Made scheduled, green flag pit stop for four tires and fuel with a left-rear wedge adjustment on lap 121.
● After pit stops had cycled through by lap 147, Harvick was up to fifth.
● Harvick held onto fifth through the end of the stage, but radioed that while his car was better, it was still too tight from the center of the corner off.
● Pitted for four tires and fuel with a slight tire pressure adjustment at the end of the stage.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 161-267):
● Harvick started fifth and finished third.
● Harvick drove his No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang into a battle for the lead by lap 170, racing with leader Kyle Larson, William Byron and Tyler Reddick.
● Harvick was third when the caution came out on lap 174. “Definitely took off better,” he said, “but still a little too tight.”
● Took advantage of caution and pitted for four tires and fuel with a slight tire pressure adjustment on lap 175.
● Lined up fifth for lap-179 restart and was fourth by lap 183.
● Harvick grabbed third on lap 187 from Larson and then followed in the tire tracks of second-place Kurt Busch.
● Pitted for four tires and fuel with a tire pressure adjustment during caution period on lap 219.
● Lined up second on the inside of leader Busch for lap-223 restart.
● Caution came out on lap 225 and Harvick was fourth after some three-wide jockeying for the lead among Chase Elliott, Larson and Busch.
● Race restarted on lap 229 and Harvick was fourth, the second car on the inside lane behind leader Elliott.
● Harvick swept around Elliott on the apron just before turn one while Larson went high to take the lead. Harvick ended up second.
● Some slight right-front damage was sustained, but Harvick persisted, getting right behind Larson on lap 234 and pressuring him for the lead.
● Larson steadily extended his margin over Harvick. Meanwhile, third-place Elliott caught Harvick and eventually took second place on lap 254.
● Harvick ran a comfortable third for the remainder of the race, crossing the stripe with a more than two-second advantage over fourth-place Busch.
Notes:
● Harvick earned his 10th top-five and his 23rd top-10 of the season.
● This was Harvick’s 11th top-three in 32 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas. It was also his 12th top-five and 19th top-10 at Kansas, each of which are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
● This was Harvick’s third straight top-three at Kansas. He scored runner-up finishes in his prior two visits to the track.
● This was Harvick’s second straight top-five. He finished fifth in the series’ prior race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
● Larson’s win in the Hollywood Casino 400 was his 15th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his series-leading ninth of the season and his first at Kansas. His margin over second-place Elliott was 3.619 seconds.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 33 laps.
● Only 15 of the 40 drivers in the Hollywood Casino 400 finished on the lead lap.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We were just getting tight at the end of the runs and the 5 (Larson), 9 (Elliott) and 1 (Busch) cars could really hold it wide open. I needed to get past the 5 so I was trying to hold it wide open and had a lot of wheel into it and got a little tight as we went to the last half of that run. I’m really proud of everyone on the Subway Delivery Ford Mustang. We closed a huge gap at 1.5-mile racetracks and everyone is doing a great job.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Xfinity 500 on Sunday, Oct. 31 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It is the penultimate race of the 10-race playoffs and the final race in the Round of 8. It starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
