Kevin Harvick Scores First Victory of 2017 Season

Kevin Harvick celebrates in Victory Lane
Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Kevin Harvick won Saturday afternoon's NASCAR K&N Pro Series West event at Sonoma Raceway. That was like taking candy from babies.

But Harvick mixed it up with the big boys in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350, and the outcome was the same.

Executing an ideal strategy for the long green-flag run that consumed the second half of the race—minus roughly 200 yards—Harvick won a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event for the first time this season, the first time at Sonoma and the first time in a Ford, after Stewart-Haas Racing made an offseason switch from Chevrolet.

In winning for the 36th time in 590 career starts, Harvick took the checkered flag under caution after Kasey Kahne's Chevrolet clobbered the concrete Jersey barriers near the start/finish line. By then, Harvick had a comfortable lead of more than eight seconds—and just enough fuel in the tank of the No. 4 Ford Fusion to complete a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch.

"I'm so excited," Harvick said in Victory Lane. "I think, as you look at it, getting our first win with Ford, this has been a great journey for us as an organization and team. (Teammate) Kurt (Busch) winning the Daytona 500, and we have run well.

"It's a great day. It finally all came together, and we were able to not have any cautions there at the end. Rodney had great strategy, and I was able to take care of the car and get out front. I felt like the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) was the car we had to race, and then he had problems and from there we were in control."

In fact, Truex led a race-high 25 laps to Harvick's 24 and won the first stage of the race, but the engine in the No. 78 Toyota dropped a cylinder and finally expired, relegating Truex to a 37th-place finish. Truex handed the series lead back to Kyle Larson, who started on the pole but faded to 26th at the finish, one lap down, after a series of run-ins on the asphalt.

Clint Bowyer, Harvick's Stewart-Haas teammate, was runner-up for the second time this season. Using a contrarian strategy not atypical of his No. 2 Team Penske squad, Brad Keselowski ran third, giving Ford drivers a sweep of the podium positions.

Denny Hamlin came home fourth, followed by Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who posted his second straight top 10.

Harvick led 24 laps in Sunday's race
Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Playing into the hands of Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers, the race went green from the Lap 55 restart after the second stage (won by Jimmie Johnson) until the final caution after Kahne's wreck as Harvick approached the finish line.

For the Bakersfield, Calif., native, the Sonoma win was an important item to remove from the bucket list.

"It means a ton to finally check this one off the list," Harvick said. "I feel like we've been close a couple times but never put it all together.

"Being so close to home and having raced here so much, this was one that was on the top of the list and today we were able to check that box."

Bowyer rolled home second in a No. 14 Ford whose battered body exhibited the dents and dings from a litany of on-track incidents, including an early collision with Keselowski's Ford.

"Well, let's face it, short runs have never been my strong suit here," Bowyer said. "The long runs are, and thank God we got a long run there. I was out of tires. By the time I got done tearing the hell out of my car, I was out of tires. There was some technical strategy that you've got to try to play and get track position, and then, all of a sudden, you're on the bad side of tires trying to hold guys off and you're blocking.

"They're stacked up behind them, and it's just a recipe for disaster. You know, the 47 car down there (AJ Allmendinger), I just didn't see him and knocked the whole front end off our car. Somebody else I had a really good run on and I thought they were going to give it to me, and they didn't. Brad spun me out. So, yeah, one of them days."

Five drivers made their Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debuts on Sunday. Subbing for injured Aric Almirola, Billy Johnson ran 22nd in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Israeli driver Alon Day was 32nd, Kevin O'Connell 33rd, Tommy Regan 34th and Josh Bilicki 36th.

RACE RESULTS

Pos. # Driver Make Start Laps Led Status Points Playoff Points
1 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 12 110 24 Running 40 8
2 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 13 110 0 Running 36 0
3 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 23 110 17 Running 43 12
4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 14 110 11 Running 46 2
5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 4 110 3 Running 32 4
6 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevy 10 110 0 Running 36 0
7 41 Kurt Busch Ford 17 110 0 Running 30 5
8 24 Chase Elliott Chevy 8 110 0 Running 31 2
9 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 7 110 0 Running 39 8
10 1 Jamie McMurray Chevy 2 110 1 Running 27 0
11 27 Paul Menard Chevy 15 110 0 Running 26 0
12 22 Joey Logano Ford 18 110 0 Running 36 1
13 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy 24 110 12 Running 34 16
14 95 Michael McDowell Chevy 16 110 0 Running 23 0
15 31 Ryan Newman Chevy 20 110 0 Running 23 5
16 19 Daniel Suarez Toyota 11 110 0 Running 21 0
17 10 Danica Patrick Ford 6 110 0 Running 20 0
18 3 Austin Dillon Chevy 19 110 0 Running 25 5
19 37 Chris Buescher Chevy 9 110 4 Running 18 0
20 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 38 110 0 Running 25 1
21 72 Cole Whitt Chevy 29 110 0 Running 16 0
22 43 Billy Johnson Ford 26 110 0 Running 15 0
23 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 27 110 0 Running 14 0
24 5 Kasey Kahne Chevy 21 109 0 Accident 15 0
25 77 Erik Jones Toyota 30 109 0 Running 12 0
26 42 Kyle Larson Chevy 1 109 9 Running 19 13
27 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 25 109 0 Running 14 0
28 13 Ty Dillon Chevy 35 109 0 Running 9 0
29 33 Boris Said Chevy 34 109 0 Running 8 0
30 34 Landon Cassill Ford 31 109 0 Running 7 0
31 38 David Ragan Ford 28 109 0 Running 6 0
32 23 Alon Day Toyota 32 108 0 Running 5 0
33 15 Kevin O'Connell Chevy 36 108 0 Running 4 0
34 55 Tommy Regan Chevy 37 107 0 Running 3 0
35 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevy 5 104 4 Running 11 0
36 51 Josh Bilicki Chevy 33 100 0 Running 0 0
37 78 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 3 86 25 Engine 11 21
38 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford 22 30 0 Accident 1 5

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