LOUDON, N.H. — Sunday’s checkered flag should have waved from the window of either the No. 78 or No. 20 Toyotas.
Martin Truex Jr., pilot of the No. 78, led 141 laps of the Bad Boy Off Road 300, most of any driver. Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20, paced the field for 105 spins around New Hampshire Motor Speedway, second-most after Truex. Both cars boasted strong engines, slippery aerodynamics, and smooth handling.
But in their late one-on-one pursuit of the checkered — Truex, running in second, diving to the inside, Kenseth, the leader, holding off his fellow Camry — the drivers who were running 1-2 used up their best stuff.
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“I think he was in the same position as me,” Truex said of Kenseth. “He ran really hard trying to keep me behind and burned his tires off.”
As the Toyotas faded, Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Chevrolet spotted an opening. On the sixth and final restart of the day, Harvick, who had climbed into the second spot and was in the bottom groove, mashed the gas and clicked through his gearbox. The race-leading Kenseth spun his tires and lost momentum. Harvick glued his Goodyears to the racetrack, nosed past the No. 20 off Turn 3, and peeled into the lead on the front straightaway on Lap 294.
Harvick, who held the lead for only two previous laps, stayed in front of the No. 20 for the final six loops around NHMS to grab his third win of the season. While Kenseth and Truex parked their cars on pit road, Harvick twirled onto the front straightaway, took his checkered flag, and burned the remaining rubber off his tires.
“Our car fired off really good on the restarts on the bottom,” said Harvick. “I liked being on top. It seemed easier. But for whatever reason, I could get back on the throttle by the first set of dotted lines, get our position, and get out in the front at the end.”
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Harvick and Truex, winner of last Sunday’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, have locked up spots in the 12-car second round of the Chase. The 14 other Chase drivers have one more race in the first segment to fight for the 10 remaining second-round openings.
Last year, Harvick had to win the third race at Dover International Speedway to proceed to the second round. He has no such pressure riding on his tires this time.
“I hope we go to Dover and win again,” Harvick said. “It’s a great racetrack for us. Everybody’s prepared to be in the same position as last year. I’m excited. There won’t be as much pressure. But it will be important to go perform like we need to perform.”
Harvick was in a must-win position last year because of a late-race disaster at Loudon.
Nobody questioned his dominance at NHMS last September. Harvick led a race-high 216 laps, but ran out of fuel before the race’s conclusion, dumping him in 21st place and allowing Kenseth to sneak up and snatch the win.
On Sunday, Harvick knew his car couldn’t compete with the Camrys of Truex and Kenseth. After an average qualifying run Friday, Harvick started in 19th place. But Harvick kept his cool, approached the race professionally, and picked his way through traffic.
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The team executed sharp pit stops. Harvick restarted well after each of the six cautions.
Harvick’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, shared his driver’s confidence. As he watched video and monitored lap times during the race, Childers recognized that Harvick’s Chevrolet was improving. All Childers wanted was an opportunity for his driver to go for the win.
“If we ever got on the front row and could get clean air on the nose, we’d be in pretty good shape,” Childers said. “He did a great job on the last restart and got us in a great position.”
On Lap 285, Trevor Bayne bashed into the Turn 4 wall, bringing out the fifth caution. Harvick, second at the time, didn’t have enough to muscle past Kenseth on the restart.
But after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Reed Sorenson spun on Lap 291 to prompt the sixth and final yellow flag, Harvick tried again. This time, when Kenseth botched the restart, Harvick put the No. 20 in his rearview mirror for good. Just as his crew chief projected, the No. 4 gobbled up the fresh New Hampshire air and never let Kenseth approach his rear bumper.
“It’s nice to be on the side of not leading all the laps, being able to capitalize on a late-race caution, and come out with a win where we didn’t dominate all day and didn’t lead a bunch of laps,” Harvick said. “We were able to capitalize on that today. That’s making up for one of those we lost the other way.”
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Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.