LAS VEGAS — Kevin Harvick dominated the Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday on his way to his first win of the season, snapping a streak of runner-up finishes to start the season.
It was his sixth straight top-two finish, dating back to the final three races of 2014.
Martin Truex Jr. finished second, and Ryan Newman was third. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Harvick lost leads to Truex and Earnhardt in laps immediately following restarts. But both times Harvick quickly retook his position up front.
Several other drivers also led laps by staying out later during green-flag pit cycles.
Earnhardt tried a two-tire strategy to get off pit road ahead of Harvick during green-flag stops inside the final 40 laps. But, on four new tires, Harvick quickly overtook him on the race track. Truex and Newman also got by Earnhardt in the closing laps. Like Earnhardt, Newman took only two new tires on his final stop.
Harvick started the race from the 18th spot and took four tires during a lap-25 competition caution while most of the front-runners took two. With those two new tires, he continued his drive to the front, taking the lead from Jimmie Johnson on lap 91 and leading most of the remaining laps of the 267-lap race.
Joey Logano stayed out later during a cycle of green-flag stops and led laps before hitting pit road just in time to see a yellow flag on lap 139. He was able to remain in the top five before receiving a pit-road speeding penalty during a caution with about 100 laps to go. Logano was nabbed for speeding on pit road a second time during a caution with 80 laps to go.
Logano started on the pole and led 40 of the first 42 laps before losing the lead to Johnson.
After losing the top spot to Harvick, Johnson headed to pit road with a loose wheel and fell off the lead lap. His race went from bad to worse when a blown tire sent him into the wall with just under 100 laps to go.
A few laps later, Johnson hit the wall again because of another tire issue.
A.J. Allmendinger finished sixth, Brad Keselowski was seventh, Kyle Larson eighth, Matt Kenseth ninth, and Logano 10th
Jeff Gordon claimed his first Las Vegas pole Friday but had to start the race from the back in a backup car because of a crash in practice Saturday. David Ragan also dropped to the back in a backup car after a practice crash.
On Saturday, Austin Dillon held off a charging Ryan Blaney to NASCAR’s second-level Xfinity Series race.
Dillon, who mainly competes in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series, had the dominant car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 183 of the 200 laps in the Boyd Gaming 300.
But on a restart with six laps left, Blaney — who had taken fresh tires during a caution period — closed the gap with Dillon’s No. 33 Chevrolet and was on Dillon’s bumper with two laps left.
Blaney then tried to take the lead in his No. 22 Ford, but Dillon blocked him to secure the win. Blaney nearly lost control twice as he tried to find a way around Dillon.
“It was a heck of a last two laps, that’s for sure,” Dillon said in Victory Lane. “The 22 put on a heck of a charge.”
Blaney said Dillon “did what he had to do and stopped my run. I couldn’t get to his outside [for the pass].”
Regan Smith finished third and Denny Hamlin, driving the No. 54 Toyota for the injured Kyle Busch, finished fourth.