Event: Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race (non-points event)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 85 laps, broken into four stages (30 laps/20 laps/20 laps/15 laps)
Start/Finish: 3rd/2nd (Running, completed 88 of 88 laps)
Note: Race extended three laps past its scheduled 85-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish in Stage 1.
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 3 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-30):
● Kevin Harvick started third and finished second.
● Harvick drove his No. 4 Busch Beer #MillennialCar into the lead at the start and led the first 19 laps.
● Kyle Busch took the lead on lap 20, and Harvick held steady in second through the end of the stage.
● Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel at the end of the stage.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 31-50):
● Started second and finished first.
● After a restart on lap 39, Harvick retook the lead and held the position through the end of the stage.
● Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel at the end of the stage, but the stop was slow and it dropped Harvick to seventh.
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 51-70):
● Started seventh and finished sixth.
● Harvick keyed the mic on lap 56 to say, “I’ve got a loose wheel!”
● Under caution on lap 58, Harvick came to pit road to have all of his wheels tightened. This dropped him to 15th for the lap-63 restart.
● Harvick drove his way to sixth by the end of the stage.
● Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel at the end of the stage while a handful of others took only two tires.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 71-88):
● Started 10th and finished second.
● Harvick wheeled the Busch Beer #MillennialCar up to eighth by the lap-76 caution.
● Once the race went back to green, Harvick picked up another four spots.
● In fourth place prior to the green-white-checkered finish, Harvick rallied to second before the checkered flag waved.
Notes:
● Harvick has made an appearance in every single Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race in his 19-year career, the most of any driver eligible for this year’s All-Star Race.
● Harvick led twice for a race-high 33 laps to increase his laps-led total in the All-Star Race to 157.
● Kyle Larson won the All-Star Race with a .322-of-a-second margin of victory over Harvick.
● The All-Star Race featured 10 lead changes among seven different drivers. Nineteen drivers comprised the field.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Beer #MillennialCar Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Once they get single-file, as soon as they drive in your lane they pushed up the groove, so you’ve got to go where they aren’t and he (Kyle Larson) was fast enough to run the bottom, and that’s where I needed to run to really make time. Everybody was wide-open, so once the restart thinned out, everybody just kind of goes where they go.”
Next Up:
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to points-paying racing on Sunday, May 26 with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. The longest race on the Cup Series schedule gets underway at 6 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
