Kevin Harvick was the monster on Sunday that left the competition wondering how to end his domination. Clint Bowyer, Harvick’s teammate tried, but “The Closer” earned his fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of 2018. Bowyer, scored his own victory for Stewart-Haas Racing earlier this year at Martinsville Speedway, but ran runner-up to Harvick by 7.450 seconds in the AAA 4oo from Dover International Speedway. Harvick led 201 of the 400 laps and swept all three stages. The brakes were put on Harvick’s domination at Lap 320 as a rain shower passed the area. While Bowyer hoped the skies would open up so he could earn win two of 2018 in the MENCS, they cleared, allowing Harvick to pursue his friend for the win. Eight laps after the race resumed, following a delay of 40 minutes, Harvick powered around Bowyer, holding on for the win.
“It’s fun racing your teammate,” Harvick said. The friendship between Harvick and Bowyer is a close one. Close enough that friendly ribbing occurred a lot over the weekend between the two.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’ve talked so much trash to him all weekend, and he’s already told me that the karma train is going to run me over’ when it started raining,” Harvick quipped. “But we had a fun weekend, just because when you come to Dover, I feel like when you come to Dover, I feel like Clint is going to be one of the people that you have to beat just because of the fact that he’s been so good for so many years here.”
“To be able to race with Clint for a win is for me, like I told him, I said, ‘If I’m not going to win this race today, you need to win this race, so get up there and go after it,’ because at that point we didn’t know what was going to happen during the (final) pit stop (after the rain). To be able to race with him is a lot of fun, and I’d much rather keep it within the house than racing with somebody else.”
While Harvick climbed back to the top of the 2018 winners mountain with his fourth, Kyle Bush, who won the last 3 Cup races fell out of the race on Lap 272 when the drive shaft broke on his 18 car. He would finish 35th.
Daniel Suarez finished third, trailed by Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Bush in fourth and fifth. Sixth to Tenth positions were Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and pole winner, Kyle Larson.
Check out Track Talk Ep. 11 for significant news regarding NASCAR.
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