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Busch Light Driver Scores Third Straight Top-Five; Advances to Sixth in Series Point Standings

Date: April 30, 2017

Event: Richmond 400 (Round 9 of 36)

Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Richmond International Raceway (.75-mile oval)

Format: 400 laps, broken into three stages (100 laps/100 laps/200 laps)

Start/Finish: 6th/5th (Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

Point Standing: 6th (286 points, 112 out of first)

 

Race Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)

 

Stage 1 Recap (Ended on Lap 100):

• Kevin Harvick started sixth, finished fourth, earning seven bonus points.
• Busch Light Ford Fusion entered the top-five on lap four.
• Pitted for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment under caution on lap 78.
• Pitted at end of stage for four tires, fuel, wedge and air pressure adjustments to fix a loose-handling condition.

Stage 2 Recap (Ended on Lap 200):

• Started fourth, finished third, earning eight bonus points.
• Passed the No. 42 for the second position on lap 135.
• Reported he was loose at the three-quarter mark and needed more help on exit.
• Pitted at end of stage for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustments to help the car on the exit of the corner.

Final Stage Recap (Ended on Lap 400):

• Started second, finished fifth.
• Made the pass for the lead on lap 228.
• Battled a tight-handling condition through the center of the corner and loose off throughout the final stage.
• Restarted 10th following a caution on lap 381 on fresh tires while several cars opted to stay out.
• Raced his way to fifth in the closing laps.

Notes:                                   

• Harvick’s fifth-place finish in the 400-lap race at Richmond was his third straight top-five finish of the season. Harvick finished third on Monday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and fourth at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
• This is Harvick’s 12th top-five and 21st top-10 finish in 33 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond and his 157th top-five and 289th top-10 finish in 582 career Cup Series starts.
• Harvick led three times for 11 laps to bring his laps-led total at Richmond to 1,061 and season laps-led total to a series-high 444.
• There were nine caution periods for a total of 53 laps.
• Twenty-eight drivers finished on the lead lap.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“We had a good day. This has been a tough racetrack for us. We ran in the top-five all day and battled up front for the lead off and on. The last three runs we got tight in the center and loose off the corner and couldn’t find anything to make that better. Our Busch Light Ford team did a great job, and we just keep knocking off those top-fives. The wins will come. It was a lot of fun. That is what we want to be able to do, we want to be able to pass.”

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Geico 500 on Sunday, May 7 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX.

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