BRISTOL, Tennessee — After multiple rain delays, the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway was completed a day late on Sunday, and Kevin Harvick claimed his second win of the 2016 season,
Harvick, who also captured the event at Phoenix International Raceway in March, earned his second career Sprint Cup victory at Bristol but his first since 2005.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second, Denny Hamlin was third, and Austin Dillon finished fourth. Chris Buescher rounded out the top five, and as a result, climbed into the top 30 of the points standings, making his win on Aug. 1 at Pocono Raceway count for a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship postseason.
Harvick, who started 24th, first took the lead on the 286th of 500 laps. He eventually lost the lead to Kyle Busch, but once Busch wrecked out of the race, Harvick took over with about 100 laps remaining.
Harvick lost the lead to Hamlin on pit road during a caution just past lap 400, but a few laps after the restart, he moved back into the lead and remained up front the rest of the way.
The yellow flag and then the red flag waved one final time for a brief light rain with 66 laps remaining, but track drying efforts were able to keep up with the precipitation, and the race quickly restarted.
Busch dominated the first half of the race after taking the lead during Saturday night. He took the lead on lap 23 and was up front when the race was halted for the night after the completion of 48 laps.
Busch restarted with the lead when the race resumed Sunday evening and led a total of 256 laps before he spun trying to get onto pit road just past lap 360. He previously reported a problem with a shock that he was going to have to go behind the wall to repair. The incident also collected Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Justin Allgaier, who was filling in for Michael Annett in the No. 46 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet.
Right after the race restarted, the yellow flag was displayed again for another member of the Busch family, Busch’s brother, Kurt Busch. Kurt Busch spun from the second position, and his incident collected Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth. Larson also was involved for the second straight issue in a handful of laps.
Larson was a front-runner early in the race but was shuffled toward the back because of a pit-road speeding penalty during a lap-86 caution. He had raced his way back toward the front before being collected in two on-track incidents.
NOTES: Jeff Gordon continued as substitute driver in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr., and he came in 10th place. … Michael Annett was sidelined by flu-like symptoms. … The lower portion of the track was “polished” with a sticky substance to increase traction since the Sprint Cup Series last visited in March in an attempt to get drivers to use the lower line on the track. … Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Larson dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol on Friday night, but Sprint Cup driver Austin Dillon won the race. … Pole sitter Carl Edwards won from the pole the last time the Sprint Cup Series visited Bristol in April. … Joey Logano won last year’s NRA Night Race.