July 21, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Harvick hangs on for fourth career win at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H.  -The Magic Mile lived up to its name as Kevin Harvick ended his 20-race losing streak on Sunday.

Crew chief Rodney Childers decision to keep the No. 4 Busch Ford on the track after the final caution gave Harvick the lead and ultimately the win.

Over the final 30 laps, Harvick defended the point and held off Denny Hamlin by .210-seconds at the finish for his fourth win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the 46th of his Cup career in his 666th start.

"I didn't think we had the best chance to win today but Rodney made a great call," Harvick said. "We had a good car today, we just never could get track position. We stayed out there and ran a lot of good laps.

"I really didn't want to see that traffic there at the end, it made my car tight when (Hamlin) got to me. He tried to move me out of the way down there and I knew that was coming as close as he was. So, I just stood on the brakes--half-throttle down the back straightaway. I was like, 'You're not getting under me again' and he drove to the outside of me and I waited until he got to the outside of me and put a wheel on him."

Erik Jones finished third followed by Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and polesitter Brad Keselowski.

Kyle Busch won the first stage with a 2.527-second advantage over Jones. Almirola, Bowyer, Keselowski, Truex, Blaney, Harvick, Hamlin and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top 10.

He took the lead from polesitter Keselowski on the first lap but the No. 2 regained the lead on Lap 37.

The segment was slowed by the first caution on Lap 44 when Austin Dillon hit the Turn 4 wall after blowing a right front tire. He suffered a tire issue again on Lap 70 and went to the garage on Lap 95.

With a two-tire stop, Jones jumped from fourth to the lead off of pit road. He led three laps before Kyle Busch passed him on Lap 51. Kyle Larson pitted on Lap 68 with a loose wheel and dropped to 32nd, one lap down. Busch held on to win the seventh stage of the season.

The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team opted for a two-tire stop between stages. Keselowski, Treux and Kurt Busch followed suit and lined up behind Kyle. Kurt Busch pushed Kyle to a sizable lead over Keselowski and fell into third-place.

The fourth caution occurred on Lap 109 when Daniel Hemric and Suarez slid through fluid in Turn 1 and spun into Turn 2. Chase Elliott reported there was no water in the No. 9 car. He pitted and the team went to work on his water pump. Elliott dropped to 34th as the Hendrick Motorsports team continued to work on his car.

Harvick, Hamlin and Bowyer remained on the track when the rest of the leaders pitted. Jones, who received damage on pit road, was forced to the rear of the lead lap. When the race returned to green, Kyle Busch, who restarted fourth, regained the lead on Lap 117. Harvick dropped to second followed by Hamlin and Almirola.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. cut a left-front tire and hit the Turn 2 wall on Lap 135 after contact with Jones earlier. Stenhouse parked the car and finished 36th. Nine cars remained on the track with Almirola taking the lead on Lap 141. Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Logano. William Byron, Larson, Suarez, Paul Menard and David Ragan followed with Kyle Busch lining up 10th—the first driver off of pit road.

Before the field completed the first lap on the restart, Bowyer made contact with Martin Truex Jr. after going three-wide through Turn 4 with Kurt Busch to trigger Caution 5. The Nos. 14 and 19 pitted and restarted at the rear of the field.

“I was wondering, ‘What the hell is he thinking? He has to make the Playoffs,’” Truex said. “That was not a smart move.”

Almirola held the point to win Stage 2 on Lap 150 as Johnson dropped to 24th. The seven-time champion reported he had no power steering and pitted for an extended stop. Logano, Newman, Byron, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Larson, Harvick, Menard and Kurt Busch completed the top 10 at the green-white-checkered.

Denny Hamlin led the field to green for the final stage on Lap 156 with Harvick alongside. Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Matt DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell and Ty Dillon lined up in the top 10.

On Lap 200, Newman reported he had dropped a cylinder just prior to Truex passing him for 13th. Hamlin led 60 laps when his teammate Kyle Busch hit the wall in Turns 1 and 2. Busch was running seventh when he ignited Caution 7.

Before the field could get up to speed on Lap 217, Larson attempted to go beneath Bowman in Turn 1, came up on the No. 88 Chevy and spun out while running ninth. Larson fell to 19th Newman used the caution for the team to check on the engine. The problem appeared to be a bad coil. He restarted 18th and drove back into the top 15 by Lap 231.

With 60 laps remaining, Harvick pulled within two car lengths of Keselowski, who was running thrid. Kyle Busch returned to seventh after passing Logano in Turn 4 on Lap 246.

Larson hit the wall with 35 laps remaining to bring out Caution 8. Harvick, Jones and Truex remained on the track while the other lead lap cars pitted on Lap 266. Hamlin elected to take right side tires and lined up fourth followed by Keselowski, Blaney, Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Almirola, Kyle Busch, Logano and Newman.

Harvick controlled the start with 29 laps to go. Hamlin moved to the inside of Jones for second on the next lap and set his sights on Harvick. Blaney and DiBenedetto passed Truex, who dropped to sixth. Harvick held a half-second lead with 20 laps to decide the race. 

Despite a last-ditch attempt by Hamlin when he tagged the No. 4 Ford entering Turn 1 on the final lap, Harvick hit the brakes then headed for the finish line.

“Well, I kind of shoved him up a little higher and tried to get him out of the groove,” Hamlin said. “I'm kind of watching it back right now. I mean, yeah, I just—I wanted to just tap him there, but I didn't want to completely screw him.  I at least wanted to give him a fair shot there. 

“Down the backstretch, I kind of let off, and I'm like, all right, well, I'll just pass him on the outside and kind of do this thing the right way, and once I had that big run, he just turned right. But I would do the same thing. It was a fun race, and congratulations to him and his team.  They made a great call there at the end.”

Hamlin came from the back of the pack after wrecking his primary car during practice on Friday. Although he started at a deficit, Hamlin led 113 laps before scoring his 10th top-five finish at Loudon.

“It was fun,” Hamlin said. “We had a fast FedEx Express Camry today. Really happy about our performance and how we've been for the last few months, and Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) has done a great job with this backup car. 

“This is nowhere near the car that I wrecked on Friday.  S‑‑‑, I don't know.  Second sucks.”

Harvick became the ninth different Cup winner of 2019 to qualify for the Playoffs with a win.

Logano maintains a three-point lead in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup standings.