Kevin Harvick won the Pocono Organics 325 from Pocono Raceway on Saturday afternoon in the first race of NASCAR’s Pocono doubleheader.
Harvick used pit strategy to get to the front of the field, and he held off Denny Hamlin in the closing laps to pick up his first career victory at the Tricky Triangle.
Harvick said his team worked hard to finally get to victory lane in Pocono.
“We weren’t where we needed to be to start the race,” Harvick said. “Came back and made some great strategy calls and were able to get out front. Great to finally check Pocono off the list.”
With his win, Harvick will now start 20th for Sunday’s race at Pocono due to an invert of the top 20 finishers.
Harvick said he wasn’t worried about coming from the back of the field again.
“Well we were back to 20th today, so I think in the end it’s going to come down to strategy and what you need to do,” Harvick said.
Hamlin was chasing down Harvick in the closing laps, but he wasn’t able to get around to pick up his sixth victory at Pocono.
Hamlin said a vibration at the end of the race affected the handling of his car.
“It’s like something loosened all the nuts in the car,” Hamlin said. “It was unfortunate…just with about 15-20 to go the vibration just got really, really bad.”
“Our car was extremely, extremely fast and optimistic for tomorrow’s race, for sure.”
Unofficial results:
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Aric Almirola
- Christopher Bell
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Michael McDowell
- Brad Keselowski
- Chris Buescher
- Matt Kenseth
- Ryan Blaney
- Matt DiBenedetto
- William Byron
- Ryan Newman
- Cole Custer
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Kurt Busch
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Preece
- Jimmie Johnson
- Bubba Wallace
- Corey LaJoie
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Chase Elliott
- Ty Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Daniel Suarez
- Brennan Poole
- Tyler Reddick
- JJ Yeley
- Josh Bilicki
- Garrett Smithley
- James Davison
- Timmy Hill
- Joey Logano
- Joey Gase
- Erik Jones
- BJ McLeod
- Quin Houff
