KC Masterpiece 400: Live highlights, stage results and more

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers had their hands full trying to track down Kevin Harvick again, so find out if they were successful by following highlights and stage results from the KC Masterpiece 400.

It hasn’t been Kevin Harvick vs. the world, but it’s seemed like it at times during the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season. A winner for the fourth time this year at Dover, Harvick also captured the pole for the KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway, almost assuring he’d start out front again.

Everyone else entered the night race looking for answers in some way or another. Kyle Busch has won his share of races but now finds himself where he started the year, just a half-step behind the 4. Defending race winner and reigning Cup Series champion had one win prior to this weekend, but he and the 78 team haven’t been as dominant as they were en route to the title.

And those questions were nothing compared to the Chevrolet drivers, who hadn’t won a non-restrictor plate race as a group since Richmond last fall. To say they’re hungry to change that would be an understatement.

But of course, Harvick showed the way when the green flag dropped at Kansas, and the biggest drama on this particular Saturday night was what it would take to beat him.

One driver who was in quite the hurry early on was Kyle Larson. Forced to start in the back because he spun in qualifying and messed up his tires, Larson took advantage of his fresh rubber and made a beeline for the top 10.

After a competition caution at lap 30 necessitated by heavy rains overnight, Ryan Blaney took the lead after the yellow flag pit stops. Harvick radioed in that he thought he may have a tire going down, but he turned out to be just fine and set to work trying to hunt down the 12.

Harvick did catch Blaney in the final four laps, but he never could quite get by him, as Jimmie Johnson tried desperately to stay only one lap down in front of them. In the end, the seven-time champ avoided going two laps down, and Blaney won the stage by the narrowest of margins.

Stage 1 results

1. Ryan Blaney, 10 points plus 1 bonus playoff point
2. Kevin Harvick, 9 points
3. Brad Keselowski, 8 points
4. Joey Logano, 7 points
5. Kyle Larson, 6 points
6. Aric Almirola, 5 points
7. Denny Hamlin, 4 points
8. Kyle Busch, 3 points
9. Kurt Busch, 2 points
10. Clint Bowyer, 1 point

Harvick won the battle of pit stops at the end of the stage and returned to the point. In the meantime. Larson continued his relentless climb toward the top, engaging in a thrilling multi-lap battle with Joey Logano for the third position.

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With Stage 2 looking like it might go green the whole way, green flag pit stops were important. Blaney and Larson came in together, but Larson came out on the track in front, and he cycled through until he was pretty much right behind Harvick.

Until he wasn’t, passing Harvick to take the lead with a move that impressed even a legendary former NASCAR champion.

Harvick’s car actually got better as the run went on, and he closed to within a second of Larson as the laps ticked away. Still, Larson held on to collect the stage win, his first since Homestead at the very end of the 2017 season.

Stage 2 results

1. Kyle Larson, 10 points plus one bonus playoff point
2. Kevin Harvick, 9 points
3. Ryan Blaney, 8 points
4. Kyle Busch, 7 points
5. Joey Logano, 6 points
6. Aric Almirola, 5 points
7. Kurt Busch, 4 points
8. Clint Bowyer, 3 points
9. Erik Jones, 2 points
10. Martin Truex Jr., 1 point

The 42 team, which had already proven its mettle by helping Larson get to the lead in Stage 2, did their magic again and kept him in P1.

We weren’t really going to finish 400 miles without a caution for an incident, right? On lap 237, the answer finally switched from yes to no, with Daniel Suarez blowing a tire and going into the wall and running into Alex Bowman.

That wasn’t the end of the drama. Larson clearly wasn’t the fastest car anymore after the round of pit stops, and while he was losing spots, he made contact with Blaney. The 12 took the worst of it, hitting the wall and ending its night early.

Blaney later accepted the blame for that incident, but it was only the precursor to a much wilder and scarier wreck. This one started with some three-wide racing after the restart from the previous caution, and it made William Byron’s 24 loose.

Byron made a hard right turn into the outside wall, flying onto the hood of Ryan Newman’s 31 and igniting. A number of other cars were collected, including those driven by Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Ty Dillon and Clint Bowyer.

After a trip to the infield care center, Byron confirmed he was okay but admitted it was the hardest hit he had taken as a driver.

Truex didn’t figure in any fights for the lead all night, but he took no tires on the previous caution, allowing him to start in the first position on the restart with 10 laps to go. He got a nice lead over other cars doing the same, but Harvick was on fresh tires and was coming hard for the win with just a few laps left.

Right before the cars took the white flag, Harvick was able to pass Truex, and though the defending Cup Series champ gave it his all, the man looking more and more like he will be the 2018 champions won the KC Masterpiece 400.

The win was Harvick’s fifth of the season, starting his second streak after already winning three straight near the start of the schedule.