Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Kevin Harvick finishes fourth at Dover

Jimmy John’s Driver Now Third in Points

Date: May 6, 2019
Event: Gander RV 400 (Round 11 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Dover (Del.) International Speedway (1-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 400 laps, broken into three stages (120 laps/120 laps/160 laps)
Start/Finish: 6th/4th (Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
Point standings: 3rd (397 points, 63 out of first)
Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner:  Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-120):
● Kevin Harvick started sixth, finished fifth and earned six bonus points.
● No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang pitted on lap 43 for four tires and fuel. Harvick said the car was a bit tight.
● On lap 107, Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel. He came out in sixth place after Joey Logano and William Byron only took two tires.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 121-240):
● Started fourth, finished third and earned eight bonus points.
● On lap 138, while in third place, Harvick said he might have a loose wheel.
● While fourth, Harvick pitted on lap 182 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment and tape on the grille.
● Harvick battled with Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman for the lead late in the stage, but he finished third.

Final Stage Recap (Laps 241-400):
● Started fourth, finished fourth.
● No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang pitted on lap 244 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Harvick said his car was still tight.
● At the 300-lap mark, Harvick was one second behind leader Turex, but he said his car was “loose everywhere.”
● On lap 320, while running second, Harvick pitted for four tires and fuel.
● Harvick ended up finishing fourth.

Notes:
● Harvick earned his fifth top-five of 2019 and his seventh top-five in 37 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Dover.
● This is Harvick’s third consecutive top-10 finish at Dover.
● Harvick finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and third in Stage 2 to earn an additional eight bonus points.
● Harvick led once for one lap to increase his laps-led total at Dover to 1,443.
● Martin Truex Jr. won the Gander RV 400 to score his 21st career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Dover. His margin of victory over second-place Alex Bowman was 9.501 seconds.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 31 laps.
● Only 11 of the 37 drivers in the Gander RV 400 finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Busch remains the championship leader after Dover with a five-point advantage over second-place Joey Logano.

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Mustang:
“As you look at the cars behind each other, especially there at the end, there was hardly anybody who could pass anybody. You lose so much downforce behind each other every week that, from a driver’s standpoint, it becomes frustration. It’s difficult to maneuver your car to make up positions, because they become so aero-bad behind each other. Our guys on our Jimmy John’s Ford did a good job today, we just got super tight the last run stuck behind the 42 (Kyle Larson). We just couldn’t go anywhere.”

Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Digital Ally 400 on Saturday, May 11 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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