Harvick wins at Bristol, round of 12 set

Kevin Harvick won the final race of the Round of 16 claiming the checkered flag in the Bass Pro Shops Night race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Moving onto the Round of 12 is Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer.

Failing to advance in the playoffs were William Byron, Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto and Ryan Blaney.

The cars of Hamlin and Kyle Busch were forced to the rear of the field to start the race after failing pre-race inspection.

The first incident of the race came it for a spinning Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Busch would get stuck on pit road behind Daniel Suarez losing additional track position. Busch would work his way up to second by the end of the first stage which was won by Elliott.

Trouble would strike DiBenedetto midway though the second stage as he had to make a green flag pit stop due to a loose wheel. He would lose three laps with the stop. Truex Jr. would be the next one down pit road with a tire issue with 37 to go in the stage. As Truex tried to pit, Hamlin would run into the back of his car damaging his front end but the race remained green.

Byron would run into the back of Christopher Bell bringing out a caution near the end of the second stage while simultaneously ending his race and playoff hopes.

The second stage ended under caution with Busch as the leader after Ryan Newman got lose and spun. The big beneficiary would be DiBenedetto who with the free pass found himself back on the lead lap. As the this stage went on only a half dozen cars remained on the lead lap.

Late in the third stage lapped traffic would allow Busch and then Harvick move to the lead. In the end Harvick was able to hold off Busch for his ninth win of the season.

Bristol Night Race Results

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Kyle Busch
3. Erik Jones
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Aric Almirola
6. Clint Bowyer
7. Chase Elliott
8. Chris Buescher
9. Ryan Preece
10. Michael McDowell
11. Joey Logano
12. Austin Dillon
13. Ryan Blaney
14. Matt Kenseth
15. Kurt Busch
16. Alex Bowman
17. Jimmie Johnson
18. Ty Dillon
19. Matt DiBenedetto
20. John Hunter Nemechek
21. Denny Hamlin
22. Bubba Wallace
23. Cole Custer
24. Martin Truex Jr.
25. Ryan Newman
26. Daniel Suarez
27. Gray Gaulding
28. Christopher Bell
29. Quin Houff
30. JJ Yeley
31. Joey Gase
32. Garrett Smithley
33. Corey LaJoie
34. James Davidson
35. Brad Keselowski
36. Timmy Hill
37. Reed Sorenson
38. William Byron
39. Josh Bilicki
40. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.