Kevin Harvick wins the 2015 CampingWorld.com 500 at Phoenix International Raceway

A dominating performance saw Kevin Harvick continue his hot streak, winning at Phoenix International Raceway Sunday.

The win was Harvick’s second of the season and fourth straight on the Arizona oval, where he owns a track-record seven victories overall. He has led no less 200 laps in three consecutive Phoenix races.

Harvick, the defending Sprint Cup champion, has finished no worse than second in the past seven races dating to last season. He opened the 2015 season with consecutive runner-ups then won last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Richard Petty won in 1974 to begin a season with four finishes in a row of second or better.

“It’s almost scary how well things are going,” Harvick said. “You don’t want to talk about it too much because you want it to keep going. But I’m just really proud of these guys on this team and everything that they do.”

Although Harvick dominated throughout the afternoon, leading 224 of a possible 312 laps, several late cautions made the proceedings interesting.

A caution for a Tony Stewart crash tightened the field with less than 20 laps to go, as did another yellow with 12 laps remaining. This allowed Jamie McMurray to pull up alongside Harvick on the ensuing restart, which McMurray got the jump on. After a brief tussle, Harvick passed McMurray and drove away.

“The restarts were just really slippery,” Harvick said. “You had to really maintain your entrance speed and really slide the thing through the center of the corner to try to help keep it pointed up off.”

McMurray finished second, followed by Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne. Completing the top five was Kurt Busch, making his first start of the season after serving a three-week suspension.

NASCAR suspended Busch Feb. 20, two days before the Daytona, after allegations he assaulted a former girlfriend. The Delaware Attorney General’s office declined to charge Busch with domestic assault March 5, with NASCAR reinstating him one week later.

Busch ran near the front for much of the afternoon Sunday and was challenging Harvick for the lead in the latter stages. A late pit stop for tires dropped Busch to 10th, who then charged to fifth. Busch and Harvick are Stewart-Haas Racing teammates.

“Personally, it’s great to get back to them and produce a result like this on our first day back,” Busch said. It’s a quality car.

“The way that we raced today, it was with heart. And I thought there had been enough goodwill in the bank to try bring home a win. But Kevin was tough.”

Jeff Gordon -- who is stepping away from full-time competition at the end of the year -- finished a season-best ninth. The four-time series champion was competitive in the opening three races, but various incidents prevented him from capitalizing.

Stewart was looking to break out of an early-season slump at Phoenix. But while racing Justin Allgaier for 10th, Stewart lost control and spun into the Turn 4 wall. He sustained moderate damage and lost three laps in the pits undergoing repairs.