Highlights of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
FORT WORTH — Highlights of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway:
WINNER: The two best drivers on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season dueled down the stretch Sunday, with Kyle Busch edging Kevin Harvick for his first victory of the season.
Harvick, gunning for his fourth victory this season, finished three-tenths of a second behind.
The 501-mile race was marred by several wrecks, including a seven-car pileup during the second stage that knocked out some of the top drivers, including Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and defending champion Jimmie Johnson.
Busch, who won the second stage, led for 116 laps. Jamie McMurray finished third, Erik Jones fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.
FINAL LAPS: Busch and Harvick pitted with 42 laps to go. Ryan Newman’s blown right front tire with 31 laps remaining brought out a caution and after the lead-lap cars pitted, Busch and Harvick re-started side-by-side with 23 laps to go with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Darrell Wallace Jr. behind them.
RED FLAG TIME: The final stage got off to a rough start as on Lap 178 Denny Hamlin and Aric Almirola made contact, which sent Hamlin spinning back and collecting both Brad Keselowski and defending race champion Jimmie Johnson.
The seven-car incident, which also collected Austin Dillon, brought out a red flag that stopped the race for more than 11 minutes with Erik Jones leading the race.
“I shouldn’t have been in that position,” said Hamlin, who had a speeding penalty in the first stage. “The 18 [Kyle Busch] was falling back there. The 10 [Almirola] made a move inside. The 10 tried to squeeze. I got out of the gas and got loose underneath him.”
HARD HIT FOR LARSON: Kyle Larson was making up for a bad start after having to start the race at the back of the field after failing pre-race inspection. That all changed on Lap 128 with Larson running second. He blew a right front tire and crashed hard into the Turn 2 wall, bringing out the third caution of the race.
“I was really tight for few laps,” Larson said. “I just needed to get by Joey [Logano] there, and I felt like I was one of the faster cars out there. I felt like we could have had a shot at the end of the race. It was cut short.”
PITS FOR HARVICK: Stage 1 winner Harvick had his luck take a bad turn in Stage 2, which was brutal for him. A lugnut getting stuck in a jack led to a slow start and Harvick restarted 10th after the Larson crash. But he wasn’t on the track long as the fall winner at TMS had a loose wheel and was forced to pit again, dropping him a lap back and into the 21st spot. It took him until the final stage to get back on the lead lap.
STAGE 2: Kyle Busch passed his brother Kurt Busch with three laps remaining to win his second stage of the season. Kurt Busch finished second followed by Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer, Chase Elliott, Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse, Hamlin and Almirola.
STREAK ENDER FOR TRUEX: Martin Truex Jr. had his string of 10 straight top-five finishes on 1 ½-mile tracks come to a crashing end 81 laps into the race. Truex was running second to Harvick when his right front tire blew entering Turn 4.
The Truex wreck ended Stage 1 under caution with the second caution of the race.
“We just blew a right-front tire out of nowhere,” Truex said. “I’m not sure what happened – if we ran something over or what. I think the first set of tires that came off the tire looked great. We were just making our way towards the front. It would have been nice to have at least finished that first stage before it happened, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
STAGE 1: Harvick was leading by more than 10 seconds before the Truex crash with four laps remaining in the stage. Harvick claimed the stage under caution with Kyle Bush, Kurt Busch, Logano and Larson rounding out the top five. Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Keselowski, Elliott and Jones also finished in the top 10.
