The last time Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Nascar Ford Mustang ended up in Victory Lane was back in November 2020, but on Sunday, he snapped a 65-race winless streak at Michigan International Speedway and secured his place in the Playoffs.
Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang snagged the lead on a restart on Lap 166 after a collision between the No. 1 Camaro of Ross Chastain and the No. 20 Camry of Christopher Bell, the two race cars that dominated the race until that point. On the restart, Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang outperformed the No. 22 Mustang of Joey Logano and the No. 23 Toyota TRD Camry of polesitter Bubba Wallace on his way to victory. Harvick never looked back, despite several on-track incidents that could have changed the course of the race, but ultimately, nobody was able to best the No. 4 Mustang.
“Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us,” said Harvick after the race. “They, obviously, know we thrive in these types of situations. And a lot of things went our way today, which we haven’t had all year long – have things go our way and have things fall our way.”
Harvick’s victory comes in the wake of a statement by Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, who expressed displeasure with the performance of Nascar Ford teams this year. It will certainly be interesting to observe how The Blue Oval’s racing efforts turn out the rest of this year.
While Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang is now locked into the Playoffs, Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Mustang, is barely hanging onto the final Playoff position with three regular season races left, just 19 points ahead of Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Busch Light Apple #BuschelOfBusch Ford | 200 | 38 | Ford Mustang |
2 | 1 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's Toyota | 200 | 22 | Toyota TRD Camry |
3 | 9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Freight Toyota | 200 | 38 | Toyota TRD Camry |
4 | 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
5 | 24 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Cardell Caninetry Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
6 | 7 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
7 | 8 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
8 | 10 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 200 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
9 | 30 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
10 | 11 | 45 | Ty Gibbs(i) | Monster Energy Toyota | 200 | 2 | Toyota TRD Camry |
11 | 13 | 9 | Chase Elliott | UniFirst Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chev |
12 | 20 | 24 | William Byron | Liberty University Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
13 | 26 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Dow MobilityScience Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
14 | 25 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Ferris Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
15 | 33 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Castrol Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
16 | 19 | 17 | Chris Buescher | LeBron James Family Foundation Ford | 200 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
17 | 21 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
18 | 31 | 33 | * Austin Hill(i) | Bennett Transportation Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
19 | 32 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Schluter Systems Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
20 | 23 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
21 | 35 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | Michigan State/Zeigler Auto Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
22 | 34 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
23 | 36 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | Blaster Ford | 199 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
24 | 22 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Advent Health Chevrolet | 199 | 29 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
25 | 15 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 198 | 33 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
26 | 2 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Sirius XM Toyota | 193 | 31 | Toyota TRD Camry |
27 | 37 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | First Phase Ford | 188 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
28 | 14 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Martin Transportation Systems Ford | 187 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
29 | 6 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet | 110 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
30 | 12 | 16 | Noah Gragson(i) | Chevy Accessories Chevrolet | 109 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
31 | 17 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 94 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
32 | 27 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Ford 20 Year Sr Master Techs Ford | 29 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
33 | 28 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger Health/SweetLeaf Chevrolet | 25 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
34 | 18 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 25 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
35 | 29 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | RWR Ford | 24 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
36 | 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 24 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
37 | 5 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Discount Tire Ford | 24 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
38 | 14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Mobil 1/GEARWRENCH Ford | 24 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
#- Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comments
November 2022, eh? Maybe Kev’s a bit faster than we thought…
How did Almirola manage to finish both 34th and 38th? Especially odd since there were only 37 cars entered…
Good for Kevin Harvick and Ford, taking it to Toyota and Chevy.