Kyle Busch dominated most of the race, leading 254 of the first 350 laps before developing problems with the rear housing of his vehicle. More photos inside in the TriCitiesSports.com photo gallery.
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Sunday’s rain-delayed Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race is underway after morning showers caused a delay of nearly four hours.
Hamlin (No. 11) came in third, No. 3 of Austin Dillon third and rookie Chris Buescher (No. 34) came in a surprise fifth place finish.
Kyle Busch led 256 laps but was knocked out in a crash. “I was excited we were able to use the bottom of the race track”.
For Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers, however, this is a race he has been wanting to win for a long time, no matter which lane the racing groove was in. “And to have Busch Beer on the auto; we’ve had crummy luck with these guys on the vehicle and so I’m just really happy for Busch and Jimmy John’s and really proud of these guys on the No. 41 team”.
Fortunately, for Harvick, he avoided the mayhem for his second victory at Thunder Valley since the spring race in 2005 and his second win in 2016.
As his victory celebration, Harvick did a synchronized burnout with his teammate, boss and friend Stewart on the front straightaway.
“I really wanted him to ride around that track with me but that’s why he’s the boss”, Harvick said. I know he (crew chief Rodney Childers) likes the night race, but to see – for me to walk into the racetrack last night and see the crowd that you hadn’t seen in a few years and see the excitement back inside of the racetrack, it definitely felt like the night race used to. Larson also was involved for the second straight issue in a handful of laps. “I wish I would have had a chance at him (Harvick) on a restart”.
Caution Flags: 9 for 106 laps. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy bested Ricky Stenhouse Jr.to the line by 1.933-seconds. “Just enjoy the moment”, said Stewart. “We needed to re-start better than sixth”. Hamlin gained late race track position by just taking two tires on the final pit stop.
“We’re going to block all that out”, he said.
Friday night’s Xfiniti race victor Austin Dillon finished fourth and Chris Buescher fifth. Kurt Busch slid up and was hit by Brad Keselowski, touching off a 10-car wreck that caught up contenders Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth.
“It’s really not a competition between us and Toyota”, he said. “We’ve been having parts failures here, so something we’ve got to address and fix”.
After a 45 minute severe weather delay Saturday night, 31 entertaining laps were run under green. Pole-sitter Carl Edwards had fallen to seventh when the race was stopped. NASCAR officials planned to get going again at 1 p.m., but instead more rain washed over the track and kept the drivers in their motorhomes.
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Kyle Busch led six times for a race high 256 laps, but fighting a broken right rear shock, spun in turn three while running second and was clipped by Justin Allgaier ending a very promising day with a 39th place finish.
