NASCAR at Phoenix results: Kevin Harvick wins 3rd Cup Series race in a row

Kevin Harvick outran Kyle Busch to win the Ticket Guardian 500 Sunday at ISM Raceway, his third consecutive Monster Energy Cup Series victory and afterward had a blunt message for his critics.

Harvick’s 40th career win follows NASCAR penalizing his team midweek after officials determined a rear windshield brace had broken on Harvick’s car and the side skirt was made of steel not aluminum. The violations were found on the car Harvick drove to victory last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After winning Sunday, Harvick stopped his car on the front straightway where he got out and slapped the rear windshield. He then gave a fiery interview in victory lane where he admitted he was angry over the accusations that his team had deliberately cheated.

“I’ve been mad as all get out because this team does a great job, this organization does a great job,” Harvick said. ”We’ve got fast racecars, and for them to take that away from those guys pissed me off last week. And to come here to a racetrack that is so good to us, is a lot of fun, and everyone was so determined, we just wanted to stomp ‘em. We didn’t stomp ‘em but we won and that’s really all that matters.

“To all those haters out there ... I see you.”

Harvick is the first driver to win three races in a row since Joey Logano in 2015. The 42-year-old Harvick is also the first driver age 40 or older to win three consecutive races since Harry Gant won four straight in 1991 at age 51.

To get the win Harvick had to figure out a way to outrun Busch, who led a race-high 128 laps and had faster car than Harvick for much of the afternoon. That opening came during the last cycle of green-flag pit stops when Busch’s team was slow in changing the right rear tire, allowing Harvick to move ahead and build an advantage that with only 53 laps remaining Busch couldn’t overcome.

The runner-up finish was Busch’s second in four races this season.

”We lost the race on pit road today,” Busch said. “But we’ve won races on pit road, too.”

Chase Elliott finished third, Denny Hamlin fourth and Martin Truex Jr. fifth. Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Kurt Busch completed the top 10.

Harvick, Bowyer, Almirola and Busch are teammates at Stewart-Haas Racing, and Sunday marked the first time the team had all four drivers finish in the top 10.

”It was an awesome day for us,” SHR co-owner Tony Stewart said. “... It’s nice to look on the board and see all four cars in the top 10. That’s a proud moment.”