“That one is not fun to swallow,” Kevin Harvick laments the missed opportunity at Phoenix

Kevin Harvick sits P2 in the Championship table behind HMS’s Alex Bowman.


“That one is not fun to swallow,” Kevin Harvick laments the missed opportunity at Phoenix

Kevin Harvick

Stewart Hass Racing veteran Kevin Harvick had the opportunity to score his 10th race win at Phoenix Raceway.  The No:4 Ford Mustang was among the fastest cars on the track on Sunday, and the closer showed his masterclass by taking the lead away from pole-sitter Kyle Larson, while P15. He was the only driver on a track that was able to navigate his way to the top without the help of restarting from outside the top 10.  

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In the final pit stop of the race, the veteran went for 4 new tires while every other front runner changed just two tires. The gamble demoted him to P7 in the restart in the final restart before overtime. Rodney Childers had earlier made an impressive green flag pitstop to limit the 11s lead of the No:5 team, but the 2-tire gamble was a bit too late. The veteran didn’t have enough time to have a go at the leader pack. However, Harvick has no regret over the gamble as he believes it was the right call.

It’s what I would have done. I’d always rather be on offense. I just didn’t get a couple of cars when that first caution came out, and kind of lost our chance. And still thought I had a chance there at the end; those cars were quite a bit slower, but they get all jammed up, and that’s the way it goes,” Kevin Harvick said after the race.

That one is not fun to swallow. We had a great car and didn’t need that caution at the end. We had a strong car and a chance to win. Just hate missing an opportunity when you have a car that strong,” Kevin Harvick added.

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Kevin Harvick’s teammate Chase Briscoe hopes to build on a solid day at Phoenix  

Chase Briscoe
Chase Briscoe

All four SHR Fords were among the fastest on Sunday as the overnight updates helped the team to run fast. Briscoe was the most improved Ford driver of the day when the starting and final finish were compared. He started the race at P24 and scored a P7 finish, two places behind teammate Kevin Harvick. Briscoe is confident he can build on the result and have a better season going forward.

I think we, overall, had a pretty strong and solid day. Starting that far back in the pack, it just takes forever to get up there. I thought my car was good enough – if you would’ve put it in the lead, I would’ve been fine staying there – but it was just a matter of getting up there. It takes a long time. It’s like every green flag run you pick up three or four (positions), every pit stop you maybe get one and the restart you get one. It just takes forever to get up there when you start 24th,” Chase Briscoe said.

I thought we ran it pretty good as a complete race. On that second-to-last restart, I think we could’ve done a better job and been in a little bit better position. Overall, we really needed that type of run. We were fast all day and not scratching our heads. Hopefully, we can build on this,” Chase Briscoe added.

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