NASCAR takeaways from Michigan: Kevin Harvick breaks winless streak at right time

Kevin Harvick has appeared to channel some magic from 2020.

The 2014 Cup Series champion, who’d previously struggled in 2022, broke a 65-race winless streak at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday — giving the veteran a must-need win in a year when the 16-driver playoff field now has 15 winners with three races to go.

The 46-year-old has now notched a career six Cup Series wins at Michigan International Speedway.

Harvick’s last victory? Sept. 19, 2020 — that’s 687 days between wins. In 2020, he won nine Cup races, including the race in Michigan that year.

“Good timing, for sure,” Harvick told NBC Sports post-race, moments after tossing two triumphant fists in front of the roaring crowd. He added, “Our guys have done a good job in trying to take what we have, maximize it and do the things that we need to do. Just really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

Harvick, likely a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, has now notched 59 Cup race wins. Coming into Sunday, though, the driver had led less than 20 total laps all year.

Was this race a response to his doubters?

“Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us,” Harvick said, laughing. “They obviously know that we thrive in these types of situations. And a lot of things went our way today, which we hadn’t had all year long.”

In comparison to the last two weeks of NASCAR Cup racing, Michigan had minimal drama — particularly at the end toward the finale. No late-race restarts. No cautions in the final 30 laps.

Instead it was Harvick, commanding the No. 4 car, opting not to pit on Lap 161, taking the lead and never looking back. He led the rest of the field by approximately four seconds by the time he claimed the checkered flag.

He then spent the rest of his Sunday on the racetrack taking in special moments with his daughter, Piper Grace. Harvick and his wife, DeLana, also have a son, Keelan.

Bubba Wallace finished second Sunday. Denny Hamlin, who incurred a devastating too-many-men penalty coming out of pit road on Lap 161 but fought back admirably nonetheless, finished third.

The rest of the top-10: Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs.

With the win, Harvick has almost certainly earned him and his team a playoff spot. Harvick’s win bumps Martin Truex Jr. out of the playoff picture for now: The only driver in the field without a win in 2022 is Ryan Blaney, who has notched 728 playoff points — second-most in the entire field.

“Today, everything went right,” Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers told reporters Sunday. “Every pit stop was right. Every execution was right. And we just ended up at the right spot at the right time.”

Bubba Wallace with admirable run

Bubba Wallace earned his first career Cup Series pole this weekend and led the first 20 laps. But after the competition caution on Sunday, he got buried in the field early — and it looked for a moment that he wouldn’t be able to meet the expectations he and his team had thrust upon them heading into Sunday.

But the No. 23 car didn’t concede.

The 23XI teammate Wallace cracked the top-three with less than 50 laps to go, and he cleared Joey Logano to take second with 17 laps to go. But the 28-year-old driver ultimately couldn’t overcome the five-second lead Kevin Harvick notched down the stretch. He finished second.

Wallace, like Harvick previous to Sunday, remains on the outside looking in as it comes to the playoff race, still winless. Sunday was his sixth-top-10 finish in 2022.

“There are a lot of positives in this, but I’m a person who looks at the negatives more than the positives,” an emotional Wallace told NBC Sports post-race. “I need to change that, but I want to win so bad, and this was the best opportunity.”

Austin Cindric and Kyle Busch knocked out too early

On Turn 2 after the race’s competition caution, chaos ensued — and two of the fastest cars at Michigan International Speedway were caught in the carnage.

Austin Cindric and Kyle Busch, who both started in the top-10 after a speedy Saturday afternoon of qualifying, saw their cars totaled after a huge wreck in Stage 1. They were caught in the back after pitting during the competition caution. Each conducted brief interviews with NBC Sports after emerging from the infield care center.

“It was looking pretty good for the day,” Busch told NBC Sports. The veteran driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, who’s won one race in 2022 and is the biggest NASCAR free agent heading into 2023, was among the favorites to emerge victorious from Sunday’s Cup race. “I just don’t get it, man. Can’t buy a break right now.”

Busch was then asked to quantify his frustration. He obliged: “One out of 10? Infinity.”

Said Cindric: “Obviously took a pretty massive hit to the outside wall head-on. I’ll be OK. Feels like such a waste to do all this just to go a couple laps and finish last. So pretty unfortunate. Hate it for the guys and the team.”

Other Cup race observations

▪ Ty Gibbs made his third Cup Series start on Sunday, commanding the No. 45 car in Kurt Busch’s stead. Gibbs started at the 11 position and finished 10th — a first top-10 finish for the 19-year-old driver. Gibbs also won his fifth Xfinity race of the 2022 season on Saturday.

▪ Chase Elliott, the Cup Series points and wins leader, didn’t have his best day. But he nonetheless found himself in the mix with 29 laps to go. He finished 11th.

Official race results

# denotes rookie; (I) not eligible for points; (*) required to qualify on timeThis story will be updated.