O’Reilly Auto Parts 500: Live highlights, stage results and more

See who can conquer a cloudy and cold track at Texas Motor Speedway with highlights and stage results from the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 is the spring race at Texas Motor Speedway, but it hasn’t felt much like spring so far this weekend. Unseasonably cold weather on Saturday gave way to clouds on Sunday, meaning the track conditions are going to be challenging.

That might be good news for everyone but Stewart-Haas Racing, as perhaps a tricky track can slow down NASCAR’s hottest team. Nothing else has so far, with Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer combining to win four of the season’s six races going into Texas.

Still, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and several other drivers have had a lot of success at this track, so we’ll see if anyone but SHR can get to Victory Lane.

When the green flag dropped, it took virtually no time for Harvick to get past teammate and pole-sitter Kurt Busch to lead the early laps. Others, however, were not so fortunate.

Alex Bowman going around started the trouble, but the ensuing wreck also involved Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Paul Menard.

Bubba Wallace had a nervous moment after he got loose when Kyle Larson pulled up behind him, but he managed to make a nice save and keep on going.

A round of green flag pit stops proceeded without too much incident, save for a few penalties. But with less than five laps to go, something you definitely didn’t expect to see happened: Martin Truex Jr. cut a tire down in Turn 4 and took a hard hit when he smacked into the outside wall.

Because of Truex’s incident, Stage 1 ended under caution, with a familiar name racking up another bonus playoff point.

Stage 1 results

1. Kevin Harvick, 10 points and one bonus playoff point
2. Kyle Busch, 9 points
3. Kurt Busch, 8 points
4. Joey Logano, 7 points
5. Kyle Larson, 6 points
6. Clint Bowyer, 5 points
7. Jamie McMurray, 4 points
8. Brad Keselowski, 3 points
9. Chase Elliott, 2 points
10. Erik Jones, 1 point

Though Kyle Busch was able to get in front after the caution period, he was eventually run down and passed by — you guessed it — Harvick. Things proceeded without incident until another top driver cut down a right front and made a beeline for the outside wall, just like Truex. Kyle Larson, who started the day in the rear of the field and worked his way into the top five, blew a tire and was fortunately okay afterward.

Kurt Busch won the battle off pit road after Larson brought out the yellow, and several drivers with fast cars, including Harvick and Ryan Blaney, lost a lap when they had to return to the pits for loose wheels.

Ultimately, Kurt Busch had to hold off his brother to capture the stage win … and he couldn’t do it. Kyle Busch caught the 41 and passed him with three laps to go and drove away from him to take the green and white checkered flag.

Stage 2 results

1. Kyle Busch, 10 points plus one bonus playoff point
2. Kurt Busch, 9 points
3. Joey Logano, 8 points
4. Erik Jones, 7 points
5. Clint Bowyer, 6 points
6. Chase Elliott, 5 points
7. Brad Keselowski, 4 points
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 3 points
9. Denny Hamlin, 2 points
10. Aric Almirola, 1 point

As it turns out, Kyle Busch had a hard time on the restart and got loose in the middle of two lanes of traffic. That caused an accordion effect, turned Denny Hamlin sideways in front of a number of cars, and sparked a restrictor plate-esque multi-vehicle accident. Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson were among the cars involved.

The pit crew of Erik Jones’ No. 20 Toyota came through big time after the red flag for the big wreck, putting him in the lead. He was able to get into clean air during the restart, leading his first ever Cup Series laps at Texas.

Paul Menard ran into more trouble, bringing out yet another caution.

That yellow flag actually benefited Harvick, who was the lone car not to make a pit stop under green. Alas, he was penalized for too many people over the wall when his crew member reached too far for a tire getting rolled back and ended up creating a “too many men over the wall” situation.

He stormed out of the restart however, passing cars with abandon.

We weren’t done with on-track incidents. With less than 90 laps to go, both Trevor Bayne and Kasey Kahne went around simultaneously.

One more round of green flag pit stops was needed before the race got to the home stretch, and once again, some drivers stayed out hoping there would be a caution and leave them with the freshest tires. The gamble paid off for Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was in the lead when Ryan Newman blew a right front and became the latest victim of the outside wall.

The closing laps became a story of Kyle Busch leading and Harvick trying to run him down. In the end, despite all the chaos earlier, it was two men who have been up front most of the season so far, but with the No. 18 finishing first for once and the No. 4 in second.

Be sure to check back often as we update this post with the latest from the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 throughout the afternoon.