What happened?
Kevin Harvick held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher in the closing laps of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway to earn his second consecutive victory in 2022. Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott were the last two drivers to finish inside the top five of Sunday’s race (Aug. 14).
Harvick is the first driver to win back-to-back Cup races and seventh to have multiple wins this season.
How did it happen?
In typical fashion for The Closer, Harvick wasn’t in contention for the lead until within the final 70 laps of this 400-lap race.
It was a day that mostly saw only two cars in contention prior to Happy’s surge to the front. First, it was Ross Chastain that led the majority of stage one en route to winning the playoff point. Then, Joey Logano overtook the Melon Man shortly after the beginning of stage two and appeared to have the car to beat even after he won the second playoff point.
Move @joeylogano to the lead at @RichmondRaceway! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/BNlkq1qT22
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 14, 2022
It wasn’t until lap 334 that Harvick’s car came to life enough for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver to take the lead. However, shortly after that began the usual pit strategy mayhem Richmond has come to see thanks to its easily-worn tires.
Happy gets his run. @KevinHarvick | @RichmondRaceway pic.twitter.com/D90iXJjPJs
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 14, 2022
Hamlin, who won at the Virginian track in April, opted to pit nearly 10 laps after the rest of the field in order to have fresher tires over the course of the final green flag runs. As a result, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 11 laps during the final flurry of pit stops.
However, in the end, it was still Harvick that cycled to the front. From there, he had to fend off two challenges. Buescher came first, who was slowly gaining on the No. 4 until he ran into lapped traffic.
Then, it was Bell, who pitted at the same time as Hamlin, had the freshest tires and was two laps away from taking the lead. Despite making some shifting mistakes over the final few straightaways, Harvick was still able to hold on until the end and win the 60th Cup race of his career.
He’s done this a time or 60. pic.twitter.com/R6YNV7AQ0L
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 14, 2022
Who stood out?
Don’t let the fact he already has two wins this year fool you. Before Sunday, Logano had not led over 200 laps in a single Cup race since Martinsville Speedway in April…
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