LOUDON, N.H. — Kevin Harvick warned he was charging for the lead with taps on Kyle Busch’s rear bumper over the waning laps. Harvick had failed to methodically work his way around the race leader with a clean pass, so he set aim with his Ford on Busch for the knockout shot.
Harvick nudged the right side of the Toyota and jostled Busch out of his groove and three lanes up the track. He zipped to the front with a textbook bump-and-run that led to a beer-soaked celebration and left Busch fuming — the move of the race in another stellar showcase for the leader of the Big Three.
Harvick outdueled Busch over the final 10 laps to win a thrilling battle of two of NASCAR’s dominant drivers Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I felt like it was my best opportunity to do what I had to do to win,” Harvick said. “I didn’t want to wreck him. But I didn’t want to waste a bunch of time behind him.”
Busch, the temperamental 2015 series champion, had a different view.
“I think he could have made the move work cleaner than that,” Busch said.
Busch said he expected for Harvick to keep trying for the decisive pass until there were about two or three laps left.
“I figured that’s exactly what he was thinking,” Harvick said, smiling. “I knew I needed to take the opportunity as soon as I could get it. We needed to do it when he wasn’t expecting it.”
Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers had exhorted Harvick over the radio to do what he needed to do to snag that checkered flag.
“He was in the lane that I needed to be in and as you get to the end,” Harvick said, “you’ve got to be aggressive.”
Harvick raced to his sixth victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing and finished in the top two in some order with Busch for the fourth time this year.
Harvick, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — NASCAR’s Big Three — have won a combined 15 times in the 20 Cup races. Busch has five wins and Truex, who was fourth Sunday, has four.
There was nearly an outlier in a race delayed more than three hours by rain.
Aric Almirola, who replaced retired Danica Patrick this season in the No. 10 Ford, threatened to crash the party and win his second career Cup race. He led for more than 40 laps late until he was derailed by a poor pit stop and then spun his tires on a restart that likely cost him his first win since July 2014.
“You think I’d be happy,” he said.
Not in this race.
But it was a banner weekend for SHR: Kurt Busch won the pole and finished eighth; and Harvick and Almirola placed in the top five.
Almirola, though, was the latest also-ran to realize drivers have to be flawless to catch either of the Big Three.
Harvick, who won his 43rd career race, made the perfect pass in New Hampshire.
Harvick reeled off three straight victories at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix and went back-to-back in May at Dover and Kansas. It had been seven races since he reached victory lane.
He found the way again in the No. 4 Ford to celebrate again for Stewart-Haas Racing. His six wins are a career-best, topping the five he reached in his 2014 championship season and 2006.
ONE AND DONE
New Hampshire hosted its only Cup weekend of the season because track owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. transferred the fall playoff race to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. New Hampshire ran its first Cup race in 1993 and got a second date in 1997.
The track will fill the open date in September with the NASCAR Modified Tour. New Hampshire also plans to hold a country music festival in 2019.
Track general manager Dave McGrath said there was a modest ticket bump from Sunday’s race compared to last July. He did not reveal attendance numbers.
“There’s no significant drop year over year. We’re holding our own,” McGrath said. “I wish that everybody that was here in September was here in July but I think that’s going to take a few years for that to truly take hold. The good news is, that level, steady (crowd) is a big win in my book. That clearly shows we’re keeping those that we had and it’s our job now to find that next group to come and be part of the weekend.”
WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND
Loverboy played the pre-race concert in the rain.
Loverboy’s song “Heaven in Your Eyes” was on the “Top Gun” soundtrack in 1986 and Tom Cruise recently started filming the sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Lead singer Mike Reno said he recorded a song he hoped would be used in the movie.
“We recorded it and I sent it out. I don’t know if they’re going to take it,” Reno said. “I’m hoping they pick some nice retro music, rather than go with the new stuff. When you listen to the song we recorded for the new ‘Top Gun,’ you can almost hear the jets flying by.”
SAFETY FIRST
New England Patriots safety Patrick Chung had been scheduled to drive the pace car for the race until rain hit.
Chung declined to discuss the NFL’s national anthem debate that was reignited this week.
“Can’t worry about things you can’t control. It is what it is,” Chung said.
Chung said he was ready for the Patriots to start training camp and put the Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles behind them.
“That game sucked,” he said.