DARLINGTON, S.C. – Kevin Harvick, who finished second in Sunday’s Southern 500 with less than 60 laps to go, was arguably in the best position.
But instead of ending the night in Victory Lane and advancing to the second round of the Cup playoffs, Harvick finished 19th and left Darlington Raceway frustrated.
He is two points below the cutline with two races remaining in the opening round. Kyle Larson, who benefited from the pit chaos, celebrated his third win of the season and Reddick finished second.
En route to his final pit stop of the 367-lap race, Harvick was behind Reddick when crew chief Rodney Childers called Harvick into the pits on lap 310.
Childers tried to pit a lap ahead of Reddick and took advantage of newer tires to take the lead. By making the call as late as possible, Childers hoped to keep Reddick from responding.
Reddick’s team monitored Harvick’s radio channel. Immediately after Childers asked Harvick to pit, crew chief Billy Scott called Reddick to pit.
“Once someone beats you by a lap (to pit road), it’s a few seconds they’ve gained,” Scott told NBC Sports about how important it can be to pit a lap ahead of a competitor. “So if you don’t have a big enough lead over the next car behind you, they can outplay you and pit ahead of you. Once that happens, it’s done. You know you’ll probably get away after them.”
Scott’s late call barely gave Reddick time to drive down the track and make his way to the pit entrance. The Darlington pitlane is difficult to enter during a green flag run as the tires are worn and the surface is slippery. This makes it easy to miss the finish line.
“I tried to create a pit lane,” Reddick said. “I missed it and kind of retreated. Unfortunately, I don’t think Ryan (Newman) had anywhere to go.”
Reddick’s actions caused Newman to spin, highlighting the caution as Harvick pulled into pit road. The video showed that pit road was closed before Harvick entered. William Byron, who was following Harvick, got back on track.
“I saw Harvick and William both going down, so I wanted to follow them,” said Larson, who was fourth at that moment. “It looked like Reddick would just have to pit on the next lap and was caught too late.”
Crew chief Rodney Childers said he heard spotter Tim Fedewa tell Harvick to stay out, but Harvick entered pit road.
“Caution came and the light came on and I didn’t think I could turn right,” Harvick said in response to a question from NBC Sports.
If Harvick had driven through the pit lane without stopping in his stall, he would not have received a penalty. He would have lost several positions as the speed on pit road is 45 mph and the rest of the field was running faster, although they slowed down because of the precaution.
Instead, Harvick’s team serviced his car and he was penalized for pitting when the pit road was closed. That forced Harvick to restart at the end of the longest line. He was 26.
“(Spotter) Timmy (Fedewa) yelled, ‘Might as well go ahead and pit,’ and that confused me,” Childers said. “We should have driven through. But we would definitely be 25th. Either way, you’re kind of screwed. I don’t know what the right thing would have been.”
The result was that Harvick could no longer fight for victory.
“If we’re honest with ourselves, I think there were four or five cars that would have taken the lead and it would be hard to overtake,” said Cliff Daniels, Larson’s team principal. “Harvick takes the lead, I don’t think anyone will overtake him. I think the top four or five were very, very equal, just in terms of the way the position on the track presented itself.”
Equally crucial in the sequence was Larson moving into second place behind Reddick. Byron had slowed on the apron and Larson passed before Byron returned to the track.
“That was a big deal,” Daniels said. “Because it prepared us to finish second on pit road, make a good pit stop and take the lead.”
Larson’s team had the fastest pit stop of the race, giving him the lead. Reddick was eliminated in second place. This is how they would end up.
With the chance for his first win of the year gone, Harvick will look to Kansas and Bristol to avoid being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.
“Just put the pedal to the metal and do exactly the same thing we’ve done for … 23 years,” Harvick said of what he needs to do to continue his quest for a championship in his final Cup season.
“Race to win,” he said.
It’s as simple as that after a chaotic lap in a four-hour race dramatically changed Harvick’s playoff chances.