Event:               Southern 500 (Round 25 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval)
Format:             367 laps, broken into three stages (100 laps/100 laps/167 laps)
Start/Finish:      1st/9th (Running, completed 366 of 367 laps)
Point Standing: 4th (867 points, 133 out of first but locked into playoffs via June 25 win at Sonoma Raceway) 

Race Winner:    Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-100):

• Kevin Harvick started first, finished fourth and earned seven bonus points.
• The Busch Beer Ford Fusion led the first 18 laps before giving up the lead during a four-tire pit stop under caution.
• Harvick restarted 10^th on lap 20 and raced his way back into the top-five by lap 28.
• The team came to pit road under caution on lap 41 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment while in the fourth position.
• The No. 4 team came to pit road for multiple adjustments at the conclusion of Stage 1 to correct a loose-handling condition.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 101-200):

• Started seventh, finished third and earned eight bonus points.
• The Busch Beer Ford came to pit road under caution on lap 127 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
• The pit crew assisted Harvick in gaining a position on pit road during the lap-157 pit stop for four tires.
• The No. 4 team restarted fourth on lap 161 and immediately raced up to third, where Harvick stayed for the remainder of the stage.
• Harvick came to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment at the conclusion of Stage 2. 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 201-367):

• Started sixth, finished ninth.
• The Busch Beer Ford came to pit road under green-flag conditions for multiple adjustments on lap 250 to battle a loose condition.
• Harvick came to pit road under caution on lap 263 for several adjustments and gained three positions to join the top-five.
• The No. 4 Ford came to pit road under green-flag conditions for a loose wheel on lap 297 and triggered a round of green-flag stops.
• The Busch Beer Ford took the lead on lap 316 and held it for two laps before being caught by cars that pitted later for fresh tires.
• Harvick battled on older tires in the closing laps to secure his 16^th top-10 finish of the season. 

Notes:

• Harvick won his 21st career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole, his second at Darlington and his fourth of the season with a lap of 27.669 seconds at 177.730 mph in the final round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon.
• He scored his 16^th top-10 finish of 2017 and his 10^th top-10 finish in 21 Cup Series starts at Darlington.
• He scored his 300^th top-10 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series, becoming only the 17^th driver to accomplish that feat.
• Harvick finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and third in Stage 2 to score an additional eight bonus points.
• He led three times for a total of 22 laps.
• The race featured 20 lead changes among eight drivers and eight caution periods for a total of 38 laps.
• Eight of the 40 drivers in the Southern 500 finished on the lead lap.
• Denny Hamlin won the Southern 500 to score his 31st career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his second at Darlington. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Busch was 2.599 seconds.
• Truex leads the championship standings with 1,000 points and has a 107-point margin over his nearest pursuer, Kyle Busch.

Next Up:                                                                        

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio channel 90.

Cole Custer Finishes Ninth at Darlington

Haas Automation Driver Earns Third-Straight Top-10

Date: Sep. 2, 2017
Event: Sport Clips VFW 200 (Round 24 of 33)
Series: NASCAR XFINITY Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format: 147 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/57 laps)
Start/Finish: 4^th/9^th (Running, completed 148 of 148 laps)
Point Standing: 6^th (590 points, 268 out of first)

Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) in overtime.
Stage 1 Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45):

• Cole Custer started fourth, finished 14^th.
• Custer jolted his Haas Automation Ford Mustang to second on the initial restart before a caution on lap one slowed the race.
• On lap 27, Custer noted tight-handling conditions, ultimately pushing him out of the top-10 before the end of Stage 1.
• At the conclusion of the stage, Custer pitted for four tires, fuel and wedge adjustments.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90):       

• Started 12^th, finished 13^th.
• Custer noted severe loose-handling conditions throughout Stage 2.
• He battled just outside of the top-10 for the duration of the stage.
• After the stage ended, Custer pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and more wedge adjustments to tighten his Haas Automation Mustang.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 91-147):

• Started 14^th, finished ninth.
• Custer battled his Haas Automation Mustang back into the top-10 on the restart.
• Custer ran consistently in eighth until the caution on lap 138. He pitted for four tires and restarted in the seventh position.
• After a final caution leading into overtime, Custer restarted from the 10^th position and battled to ninth place to secure a top-10 in his first start at Darlington.

Notes:              

• There were a total of 11 lead changes among five drivers.
• Custer earned his 12^th top-10 of the 2017 season and his 14^th top-10 in 29 XFINITY Series starts.
• Nine cautions slowed the race for 33 laps.
• Denny Hamlin won the Sport Clips VFW 200 to score his 17^th career XFINITY Series victory, second of the 2017 season and fifth at Darlington Raceway. His margin of victory over second-place Joey Logano was .185 of a second.

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We started off fairly decent. We just needed that run to go green that first run. I honestly didn’t know what the track was going to do. The next run we made a wrong adjustment just because I was probably saying the wrong thing. We put it back and were pretty decent. We just needed the restarts to go our way a little bit better there at the end. Overall, it was a solid day. I wanted a little bit better, but it is what it is. It was an honor to run the Sam Ard paint scheme this weekend on our Haas Automation Mustang.”

Harvick Finishes Third at Darlington

Hunt Brothers Pizza Driver Fifth Top-Five Finish of 2017 XFINITY Series Season

Date: Sept. 2, 2017
Event: Sport Clips VFW 200 (Round 24 of 33)
Series: NASCAR XFINITY Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval)
Format: 147 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/57 laps)
Start/Finish: 2nd/3rd (Running, completed 148 of 148 laps)
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) in overtime

Stage 1 Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 1 Recap (Ends on Lap 45):

• Started second, finished first.
• Harvick narrowly escaped an early caution on lap nine as Ty Dillon spun directly in front of him.
• The Hunt Brothers Pizza team raced to the lead on lap 29 and opted to stay out on lap 32 under caution to retain the lead.
• Harvick came to pit road for four tires and fuel at the conclusion of Stage 1.

Stage 2 Recap (Ends on Lap 90):

• Started third, finished first.
• Harvick kept the No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford on the track under caution on lap 74 while racing in the second position.
• He took the lead on the following restart and kept it for the remainder of the stage.
• Harvick came to pit road for four tires and fuel at the conclusion of Stage 2.

Final Stage Recap (Ends on Lap 147):    

• Started second, finished third.
• Harvick stayed out under caution on lap 100 to maintain the second position.
• The Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford passed Joey Logano for the lead on lap 118.
• Harvick came to pit road as the leader for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment under caution on lap 138.
• Joey Logano, who had pit stall one, beat Harvick off of pit road forcing him to restart on the bottom.
• Harvick dropped to the fifth position by the following caution on lap 143, but rallied on the following restart to finish third.

 Notes:              

• Harvick scored his fifth top-five finish of the 2017 XFINITY Series Season
• The Hunt Brothers Pizza driver scored his third top-five finish in 15 NASCAR XFINITY Series starts at Darlington.
• It is his 182^nd top-five finish in 341 XFINITY Series starts.
• Harvick led three times for 54 laps.
• This is Harvick’s sixth XFINITY Series start for Stewart-Haas Racing.
• The race featured 11 lead changes among five drivers and nine cautions for 33 laps.
• Denny Hamlin won the Sport Clips VFW 200 to score his 17th career XFINITY Series victory, second of the 2017 season and fifth at Darlington Raceway. His margin of victory over second-place Joey Logano was .185 of a second.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 41 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We had a great Hunt Brothers Ford. I want to thank Hunt Brothers and Fields and Bad Boy Off Road, Ford, Morton Buildings, everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing and Haas Automation for just letting us run this thing. It just didn’t wind up working out there at the end. I wound up on the bottom and I kept my foot in it over there, got loose underneath the No. 20. We weren’t the strongest for five or 10 laps and that didn’t really work out with that short run there at the end and we got stuck on the bottom. We got loose and then we got freight-trained, but just a great car.  It wound up being a great race and that’s all you can ask for.”