Written by Adrian Beecher
In a repeat of dominance in Atlanta, Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Jimmy Johns Ford led 214 of the 267 laps on his way to a second straight NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series win in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his 100th win overall in NASCAR.
It was nearly a flawless day for the Harvick and his team as they dominated throughout. Only one issue arose with the No. 4 team all day, and that was with their air gun. It is something many different teams have had issues with. Yet, it wasn’t big enough of an issue to slow down the “Freaky Fast” car of Harvick.
He cruised to a stage 1 and two wins, having lapped all but 15 cars in the field by the end of the 1st stage. In stage 2 it was more of the same with Harvick only losing the lead to Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota for ten laps and finished 2nd. However, even Busch knew they didn’t have it for Harvick in the No. 4.
“You know, just had a decent day, I guess. Certainly would have liked to have been able to run down the 4 or catch the 4 and put on a race, but they were just so far out there and so far class of the field all day long, I don’t think anybody was really keeping up with them. Proud of our effort and what we were able to do here today, and we’ll go to Phoenix.”
With the win, Harvick joined Busch, Richard Petty, and David Pearson as the only drivers in history to win 100 or more races in their overall NASCAR career. Additionally, the 214 laps led on Sunday were the most ever by a winner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Harvick credited the great teams he has had over the years for being able to reach the 100 race win mark.
“Yeah, so it’s been — it’s been a lot of years accumulated with a lot of great race teams and people and situations. You’ve won some that you should, you’ve won some that you shouldn’t. I think when you tag that triple-digit number to it, it really lets you realize that you’ve been fortunate to accomplish a lot of things and do things consistently throughout the years.”
With back to back wins in the books and three stage wins, Harvick has already racked up 13 playoff points and taken a 3 point lead in the points standings, over 2nd place Joey Logano. Harvick and Austin Dillion are the lone drivers that have locked in spots in the playoff.
(Photo Credit: Dustin Lane / The Racing Experts)
