Yeah, let’s call him the Closer again.
This Sunday (August 14), in the NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway, Kevin Harvick became the first driver to win back-to-back Cup races in the 2022 season, holding off charges from Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher in the closing laps to win the 60th race of his career.
With 17 winners in the regular season a distinct possibility, Harvick’s second win of the year guarantees him a spot in the playoffs with two weeks left to settle the lineup.
In a race that saw plenty of two- and three-wide action in the hot Virginia sun, a typical Richmond long green-flag run settled things as Harvick defended from first Buescher, then Bell, using just enough tire life to turn laps just fast enough to lead lap 400, winning by just over four-tenths of a second. Had there been one lap more, the result might have been different.
When the green flag waved, Ross Chastain jumped into the race lead from the outside pole as the pack went three-wide behind him. After a quick caution for Tyler Reddick’s spin, Chastain stretched out his advantage.
While drivers behind including Bell and Kyle Busch wore out their tires running the outside lane, Chastain methodically paced the field for all 70 laps of stage one, even if old rival Denny Hamlin almost caught him in traffic at the very end. It was Chastain’s fifth stage win of the season.
Joey Logano jumped to Chastain’s outside on the restart to become only the second leader of the afternoon on lap 80. Logano would go on to lead a race-high 221 laps, looking the dominant car throughout the middle of the afternoon.
The story of the stage was the battle for 16th. Ty Gibbs, in just his fourth race standing in for Kurt Busch in the 23XI Racing No. 45, got a little contact from Kyle Busch on the entrance to turn one. Entering turn 3, the 19-year-old gave a bump to the 60-time race winner and passed him back. The two of them, Joe Gibbs Racing’s past and future, kept fighting side-by-side, lap after lap until Busch finally cleared the No. 45.
Normally this would be a brotherly battle.
But we’re thinking of you @KurtBusch! @TyGibbs_ // @KyleBusch pic.twitter.com/JWTd9DP9DI
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 14, 2022
Unfortunately, a mechanical issue put Gibbs behind the wall before the end of the stage. He finished 36th and last.
Teams split tire strategy in the second stage, with Logano hitting pit road on lap 124 to front the…
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