NASCAR Atlanta 2017: Kevin Harvick costs himself win by speeding on pit road

It was a flawless performance, similar to so many races Kevin Harvick had recently dominated at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and if he could remain mistake-free the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 victory would be his.

Then, it all went awry. Instead, it was Brad Keselowski standing in victory lane celebrating Sunday at Atlanta. And all Harvick could do was admit he had blundered, having to stomach a ninth-place finish in a race he should’ve won but didn’t thanks to a pit road speeding penalty with 14 laps remaining.

“I just made a mistake that I preach all the time that you don’t need to make and beat yourself and then you go out and make it yourself instead of following all the things you preach,” Harvick said. “That part is hard for me to swallow.”

After capturing the pole in qualifying, Harvick carried that speed over to the race, where he led 293 of 325 laps and appeared to be in a class of own. He was never seriously challenged and only lost the top position when the field cycled during pit stops.

But as Harvick came down pit road under caution for Austin Dillon slowing on the track, he exceeded the 45 mph pit road speed. The penalty meant he had to drop to the rear of the field, essentially eliminating any chance he had to win.

For Harvick, Sunday was just the latest in a successive stretch of races where he had the car to beat at Atlanta yet failed to close out. In the past four races, he’s led 734 of a possible 1,315 laps (56 percent) but has finished ninth, sixth, second, and 19th, respectively.

“This place, for whatever reason, I just feel like I’m snake bitten,” Harvick said. “It’s my own doing today. I really didn’t think I was even close on pit lane. I thought I was being conservative, apparently I wasn’t. ... I was just pushing it too hard.

“One way or another I have figured out how to lose races here at Atlanta after being so dominant.”

Overall, 11 drivers were penalized 13 times for speeding on pit road. That’s in contrast to a year ago when only a single speeding penalty was issued during Atlanta’s annual spring race.

Many drivers attributed the increase in penalties to additional timing and scoring lines NASCAR installed since the previous race, giving officials more opportunities to gauge speed and penalize violators. Atlanta’s pit road speed is 45 mph.

“The timing segments are really short,” said Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief. “I don’t know if that catches guys off because you don’t have a lot of time to give back, or guys are just trying to step it up a little bit.”