A dominant Kevin Harvick got a late scare, but ultimately cruised to victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kevin Harvick wins the 2015 Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
There were some questions late, but when it was over Kevin Harvick was celebrating his first victory of the season Sunday at Las Vegas.
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Harvick led 142 of 267 laps, but in the closing stages radioed about a “big vibration” and possible tire problems. The concerns proved unfounded with Harvick maintaining a sizable advantage.
“For whatever reason we got really, really loose the last run,” Harvick said. “Tires started vibrating and we were just kind of hanging on. Glad the race is over at that particular point for our own good.
“Luckily we were able to hang-on to it and had a good enough lead to where we could pace ourselves and be able to keep the lead.”
Dating back to last season, Harvick has finished second or better in six consecutive races. The win was the 29th of Harvick’s career and all but assures the defending series champion a Chase for the Sprint Cup berth. He is the seventh different winner in the past seven Las Vegas races.
“We just have to keep our heads down and keep doing everything that we’ve been doing,” Harvick said. “This isn’t a bunch of guys that are just going to go out and brag. We’re going to race every week like we have never won a race before. That’s the kind of determination that you need when you are going to do this stuff.”
Finishing second was a resurgent Martin Truex Jr., who has placed eighth or better in all three races this season. In 2014 he had all of five top-10s and finished a career-worst 24th in points.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and find a little bit more speed,” Truex said. “We’ll keep working and we’ll get better and hopefully this is a sign of things to come.”
Rounding out the top five were Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin.
After a crash in Saturday’s final practice forced him to a backup car and start at the back, pole-sitter Jeff Gordon experienced an eventful day. He was running in the top 10 when a slowing Jimmie Johnson caused Gordon to rear-end an also slowing Jeb Burton. The contact created significant nose damage on Gordon’s car, which limped to an 18th-place finish.
Johnson was one of the few who could keep pace with Harvick, having led 45 laps. His day unraveled, though, due to two tire failures.
“The first one, they said the bead blew on it,” Johnson said. “The second one, it went soft. So there could have been some damage that caused it or some rub or something like that going into Turn 3 and I hit the wall, unfortunately. I’m disappointed.”
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