It was deja vu all over again as Kevin Harvick added another Phoenix victory to his total in the TicketGuardian 500 on Sunday.
Death, taxes, Kevin Harvick? The famous list of sure things might have to be increased by one.
To be fair, ISM Raceway in Phoenix could already have boosted Harvick to the certainty level since he had won there eight times before Sunday. The TicketGuardian 500 proved no different, as Harvick drove to Victory Lane for the third consecutive race, the first time in his stellar NASCAR Cup Series career that he pulled off the hat trick.
Harvick’s 40th Cup Series victory ties with with Mark Martin on the all-time list. After seeing his team penalized during the week and losing some of the benefits of their Las Vegas win, Harvick said he was channeling his anger into this weekend’s performance and gratified to see it pay off.
“To take that away from those guys just really pissed me off last week, and to come here to a racetrack that is so good for us is a lot of fun, and everybody was just determined this week,” Harvick said in his Victory lane TV interview. “We wanted to just go stomp ’em. We didn’t stop them, but we won.”
The lack of stomping was because Kyle Busch also had a very fast car most of the day, quick enough to stay in front of Harvick at various times throughout the race. He just couldn’t catch the “Freaky Fast” No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford when it counted. Only a late race caution could have potentially changed things for him, and it was not to be.
At least this week, there was some hope someone other than Harvick would win. Both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin had the lead in the final stage and looked strong. But once the final round of green flag pit stops cycled the 4 back to the lead, it was pretty much over from there.
Busch summed up the feelings of pretty much everyone in the garage when he said he was starting to get frustrated running second to Harvick. Until someone can find something they haven’t yet in 2018, that frustration looks set to continue.
Next: TicketGuardian 500 highlights, stage results
2018 TicketGuardian 500 results
- Kevin Harvick
- Kyle Busch (Stage 1 winner)
- Chase Elliott
- Denny Hamlin
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Aric Almirola
- Daniel Suarez
- Erik Jones
- Kurt Busch (Stage 2 winner)
- Ryan Newman
- William Byron
- Alex Bowman
- Jimmie Johnson
- Brad Keselowski
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Dillon
- Kyle Larson
- Joey Logano
- Trevor Bayne
- AJ Allmendinger
- David Ragan
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Kasey Kahne
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Jamie McMurray
- Ross Chastain
- Bubba Wallace
- Chris Buescher
- Ty Dillon
- D.J. Kennington
- Michael McDowell
- Timmy Hill
- Gray Gaulding
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Paul Menard
- Corey LaJoie