Kevin Harvick Nabs Sonoma Victory

By ESPN

Kevin Harvick maybe needed a little kick in the butt to get his road-course game in gear for 110 laps Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

Many on the outside would think that with five top-5s in the first 15 races of 2017, that would serve as enough motivation for him to finally break into the win column, no matter the race track.

But the sometimes-ornery Harvick wasn't stressing out over a winless 2017. He had said in the weeks leading into the season that the switch from Chevrolet to Ford would have its hiccups. In a sport in which the details produce the speed that makes the difference between top-5s and wins, he knew that finding that performance would take time.

What really got Harvick thinking about his performance on a road course came a few months ago when NASCAR seriously started to consider putting the new Charlotte road course as part of the playoffs. He knew then -- NASCAR made it official when it released the schedule last month -- that he had to look at road courses more than just as two regular-season races in a year.

"When you talk about it being in the Chase, you've got to have it right," Harvick said, using the former name of NASCAR's playoffs. "I think, for me, that was kind of like, 'All right, you've got to do something yourself to get better.' ... The most important thing is to never take for granted that you have to try to expand your knowledge and keep an open mind to making things better."

So Harvick decided to run the regional K&N Pro Series West race Saturday at Sonoma, winning that event. He also will compete in the Xfinity race in August at Watkins Glen.

That extra focus -- and, OK, probably a little motivation from a 20-race winless streak -- contributed to Harvick's leading 24 laps and earning the 36th win of his NASCAR Cup career Sunday. He had a comfortable lead on SHR teammate Clint Bowyer when the caution came out on the final lap.

"We all expected that Kevin would have got it sooner than this, but there's just been some bad luck, some different venues that he's been really, really strong at that we just had some weird and bad luck that have crept into his program," Stewart-Haas Racing team co-owner Tony Stewart said.

It was a big win for SHR, which opened the season with Kurt Busch's triumph in the Daytona 500 but has performed good but not great since then. Harvick sits third in the points, Bowyer 11th, Busch 14th and Danica Patrick 28th.

All four drivers felt they had top-10 cars, and Harvick, Bowyer and Busch (seventh) proved it, while Patrick got collected in two accidents, neither of which arguably were not of her own doing, and still wound up 17th.

It certainly didn't hurt Harvick that Martin Truex Jr. had an engine failure that ended his day 24 laps prematurely. And it didn't hurt that NASCAR officials reined in their trigger finger on the caution light and didn't flip it for debris or spinning cars over the final 10 laps until a hard hit by Kasey Kahne on the final circuit around the 1.99-mile road course.

"It was interesting listening to some of the [Joe] Gibbs [Racing] drivers and the gamesmanship they were playing ... they pitted [while Harvick didn't in the final 30 laps] and came back out and then immediately started screaming [about] debris on the race track," said Stewart, who was critical of NASCAR for throwing a late debris caution at Michigan last week.

"I thought that was real convenient on their part. But it's gamesmanship, and they're smart, knowing how to try to play the game, but I'm glad NASCAR didn't bite on that one today."

With a mixture of happiness and relief, Stewart, Harvick and the team celebrated in Victory Lane. Winning always makes things easier, especially when handling the frustrations of just not knowing exactly how the Ford will react in certain situations and still learning software and all their tools.

"I had mixed emotions about how the year was going to go just because of the fact that we had a lot on our plate to switch over, and I think, as we started the year, we had good performance, and we went through a little bit of a spell where it wasn't as good as the first three or four weeks," Harvick said.

The past six weeks have been better, and Harvick said that is just part of the growing pains.

"It's just a big undertaking, and one day I think when we get done with this year, I think everybody will actually learn all the details of all the things that it took to get to this particular point," Harvick said.

Harvick doesn't presume that SHR has figured out all the details. He thinks more details -- and with them, more trophies -- are on the horizon.

"There's still a lot of room for growth," Harvick said. "There's still a lot of things we don't know about our cars that we learn on a weekly basis, and that's the fun part, is to know the upside potential to this whole deal. ... I feel like we have way more room to grow than most any team in the garage because there's so many new things for us and new people and still trying to work all the details out."

Byron Grabs Xfinity Race

It took rookie William Byron just a week to get over one of the most brutal losses of his young career.

The 19-year-old Byron grabbed the lead with just over 20 laps left and won the NASCAR Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night for his first series victory.

A seven-time winner last year in the Truck Series, Byron, broke through just a week after an agonizingly close loss to Denny Hamlin at Michigan.

"Last week was just exciting to be that close to a win,'' said Byron, who won the Truck race at Iowa in 2016. "It gave us a lot of momentum going into this week.''

Ryan Sieg was second in the stand-alone race with the Cup regulars in Sonoma for Sunday's race. Tyler Reddick was third, followed by Ross Chastain and Dakoda Armstrong.

Christopher Bell led 152 laps in just his second career start in the series before a late wreck cost relegated him to 16th. He led a race-high 99 laps in the Truck race Friday night.

Sieg, also in search of his first win, was on Byron's tail on the final restart and nearly overtook him.

But this time Byron, who led 78 laps in JR Motorsports' No. 9 Chevrolet, was the driver with just enough to hang on.

"I gave him all I could give,'' Sieg said. "He was just a little stronger, a little faster. I did all I could do.''

For Byron, the victory was quick redemption after Hamlin beat him by 0.012 seconds.

"To get second last week kind of hurt because we were that close. But I feel like it gave us extra motivation,'' Byron said.

As for Bell, he suffered bad fortune for the second night in a row.

Bell, who finished fourth in his debut at Charlotte, won the pole and the first stage. But early in the second stage, Sam Hornish Jr. _ who was hoping to win at Iowa in his season debut like he did in 2016 _ rubbed fenders with Bell.

Hornish popped a tire and slammed backward into the wall, ending his night.

"I felt like we were heading in the direction we needed,'' said Hornish, who'll return to Iowa Speedway with Team Penske next month. "This is not how we wanted it to go at all.''

Brendan Gaughan took advantage of a late restart to win the second stage and pick up his first playoff points of the season. Bell soon regained control, but he was clipped by Brennan Poole and sustained heavy damage.

Series leader Elliott Sadler, making his 800th career start, qualified fourth but was sent to the back of the field for an unapproved adjustment. Sadler finished eighth after an up and down night.

Matt Tifft was 22nd in his return to Iowa, the first race he missed in 2016 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.