Harvick sees off Larson for stage two win

Kevin Harvick prevailed after a fierce battle with stage one winner Kyle Larson to take the win in stage 2 at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

Harvick moved to the front during pitstops in the first stage break ahead of Larson, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex, Jr.

Aric Almirola, who ended stage 1 third after leading 34 laps early, was handed a speeding penalty and forced to the rear of the field.

Harvick led the opening 19 laps of the stage after fending off a charge on the Lap 92 restart from the Chip Ganassi Racing pair of Larson and Kurt Busch. As Busch fell back, Larson kept Harvick in his sights and retook the lead on Lap 112.

Larson was the first of the leaders to pit on lap L26 with Harvick following suit a lap later. Despite both driver’s crews pulling off near perfect stops, Larson prevailed and moved back into the lead on lap 182 with 2.1 seconds ahead of Harvick.

Harvick proved to have the faster car over the next 27 laps and closed the gap.

He mounted a charge on Larson and retook the lead on Lap 153 only to relinquish it back to Larson a lap later. The pair raced door to door the next seven laps with Larson appearing to hold the edge until Lap 161 when he got loose behind the lapped car of David Ragan in Turn 4. That opened the door for Harvick to retake the top spot.

Harvick set sail and took the stage win with 2.729s in the bag ahead of Larson. Martin Truex, Jr. ended the stage in third as Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin completed the top five.

Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer also gathered stage points and completed the top ten.