Harvick seals final playoff stage place with Texas NASCAR victory – NASCAR

Kevin Harvick sealed his place in the last round of the NASCAR Cup playoffs with victory in Texas, beating championship leader Martin Truex Jr to victory.

Harvick capitalised on a rare mistake from Truex, who suffered a small slide on the exit from the second turn and lost the lead late on as a result.

Winning the first stage, Harvick fell behind Kyle Larson during the second of three stages, but remained firmly in the hunt for the lead – following Larson across the line in second.

Following a final-stage red flag period for Larson – who lost control of his Chevrolet and hit the wall – Truex and Harvick fell behind early-race leader Hamlin on the subsequent restart.

Hamlin had thrust himself into contention after electing to take just two fresh tyres in his final pitstop, but began to lose ground and fell behind Truex and Harvick.

With 10 laps to go Harvick pounced on Truex following the Furniture Row Racing driver’s mistake, running away with the lead to put his position in the final four of the playoffs beyond all doubt with third in the points.

Truex guaranteed his place in the final four with second, thanks to his points advantage in the standings, four seconds ahead of Hamlin.

Matt Kenseth – who didn’t make the playoffs – drove an excellent race to claim fourth, electing not to pit after the second stage to climb the order before stretching out his stint to time his penultimate stop with the other front-runners.

After going a lap behind in the early stages following contact with Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski produced a battling recovery drive to secure fifth place, beating future Penske team-mate Ryan Blaney.

Also gaining track position from a shorter final pitstop, Joey Logano benefitted from some strong strategic calls to climb through the pack, finishing seventh ahead of Chase Elliott.

Elliott recovered from the rear of the grid after failing pre-qualifying inspection, but has a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the play-off standings following his Martinsville collision with Hamlin.

Like Keselowski, Kyle Busch had recovered from his early contact, but finished 19th as a result of a flat tyre late – although Busch already progresses into the final play-off round following his win last week. He is second in the playoff points behind Truex.

Jimmie Johnson – the winner of the Texas race in April – endured a torrid race to finish 27th, having struggled with an ill-handling car and a penalty to effectively end his chances of retaining the title, 108 points behind Truex and last in the playoff points.

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