Author: Ellen J. Horrow
Date: August 11, 2019
How the Consumers Energy 400, the 23rd race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, played out Sunday at Michigan International Speedway:
WINNER: It was deja vu for Kevin Harvick at Michigan.
Just as he did one year ago, Harvick took the checkered flag at the 2-mile oval after topping Denny Hamlin on Sunday for his second win of the season. Harvick then picked up his son Keelan on pit road for a victory burnout in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford before coming to a stop on the start-finish line.
“Keelan asked me, ‘If you win today, I can get in the car today, right?’ ” Harvick told NBC Sports as Keelan ran over to collect the checkered flag and bring it back to his father. Keelan then got in on the interview action.
"It was kind of scary at first," Keelan said about the burnout, "but then I liked it."
Harvick passed Joey Logano for the lead with 17 laps remaining and built a big enough cushion to hold off the hard-charging Hamlin as a number of cars had to hit pit road before the end of the race to add a splash of fuel. That included Logano as well as his Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney. Kurt Busch was among a handful of drivers who ran out of fuel on the final lap.
"Winning races is what it's all about," said Harvick, who earned his 47th career Cup win to pass Buck Baker for 16th place on NASCAR's all-time list. "It takes a lot of people to build these race cars. We come here to Michigan to win these races for Ford."
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