INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kevin Harvick turned up the pressure on Denny Hamlin late in the Brickyard 400.
And on a cooling track, Hamlin’s worn tires simply gave out.
As the sun set Sunday over Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hamlin seven laps from one of the few victories that has eluded him, he went careening into the first turn wall with a flat right front-side tire, and Harvick beat Matt Kenseth off the final restart to win his second straight Brickyard.
“We had great tire wear today, so I was able to really push my car as hard as I could,” Harvick said after his third 400 title. “I was able to push him a little harder that last run than earlier in the race and when the sun went down the track was cooling and speeds were going up in the turns.”
The strategy worked out perfectly — just like Stewart-Haas Racing’s holiday weekend.
Not only did Harvey race to his 53rd victory to move within one of tying Lee Petty for 11th on NASCAR’s career list, teammates Aric Almirola and Cole Custer, a rookie, finished third and fifth Sunday. Fellow Stewart-Haas driver Chase Briscoe won the Xfinity Series race Saturday or the road course.
Harvick tied Hamlin with a season-high fourth victoy and lead in the points. The California driver has four straight top-10 finishes.
And for the third straight race, it looked as if it would be another one-two finish for Harvick and Hamlin.
But until the late, stunning twist, Hamlin looked as though he would take his first Brickyard.
“It’s just, it’s tough. I hate it for the FedEx team,” the frustrated Hamlin said. “It was just kind of roulette if it (the tire) stays together or not and mine didn’t.”
How dominant have Harrvick and Hamlin been recently?
After trading victories and runner-up finishes at Pocono last week and Sunday’s result, they’ve combined for seven of 12 victories since the season restarted at Darlington in mid-May and it’s only the second time in seven races Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing entry hasn’t finished in the top seven.
But as Childers plotted strategy and monitored tire wear, he sensed Hamlin was on borrowed time.
“We tried to play it a little safe and we had backed down ours down a little bit to save our tires,” he said. “It just depends on how that situation plays out at the race and it just so happened we were out there a long time on tires so backing down was the way to go.”
Kenseth couldn’t catch him.
“We were really fast,” the Chip Ganassi Racing driver said. “I think if we were in front, would have been tough to beat.
One person was noticeably absent: Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports car. Johnson watched the race from his Colorado home as the series’ longest active streak of consecutive and fifth-longest in series history ended at 663. Johnson was hoping to become the third driver to win five races on the 2.5-mile oval.
