Date: Aug. 18, 2018
Event: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race (Round 24 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Start/Finish: 6th/10th (Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
Point Standing: 2nd (960 points, 43 out of first)
Race Winner: Kurt Busch of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-125):
- Kevin Harvick started sixth, finished second, collecting nine bonus points.
- The Jimmy John’s driver raced in the top-five until the competition caution on lap 60.
- The No. 4 Ford came to pit road for four tires, fuel and a small adjustment on lap 64 and came out in fourth.
- Harvick raced from fourth to second on the lap-66 restart and held the position the remainder of the stage.
- Harvick challenged for the lead in the closing laps of the stage and finished .003 of a second behind stage winner Ryan Blaney.
- He came to pit road for four tires and fuel at the conclusion of the stage and claimed the lead on pit road.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 126-250):
- Started first, finished 21st.
- Harvick raced out front at the start of the stage before dropping back to third.
- The Jimmy John’s Ford reported a tire issue on lap 185 and was forced to make an unscheduled four-tire pit stop. The stop resulted in Harvick losing two laps to the leaders.
- Harvick narrowly avoided a wreck on lap 200 that brought out a caution. The No. 4 team took the wave-around to gain a lap back.
- The Jimmy John’s Ford remained a lap down the remainder of the stage.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 251-500):
- Started 20th and finished 10th.
- Harvick raced his way up to the 17th position while remaining one lap down until staying out under caution on lap 442 to return to the lead lap.
- The No. 4 Ford restarted 15th on lap 445 and gained one position by the following caution on lap 472.
- Harvick brought the Jimmy John’s Ford to pit road for the final time on lap 474 for four tires and fuel.
- The team restarted 13th on lap 477 and battled through a series of late-race cautions to capture a top-10 finish.
Notes:
- This was Harvick’s series-leading 20th top-10 finish of the season and his 19th top-10 finish in 36 career Cup Series starts at Bristol.
- Harvick finished second in Stage 1 by .003 to Blaney to earn nine bonus points.
- Harvick led twice for a total of eight laps to increase his laps-led total at Bristol to 884.
- Busch’s margin of victory over second-place Kyle Larson was .367 of a second.
- There were nine caution periods for a total of 70 laps.
- Only 15 of the 40 drivers in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race finished on the lead lap.