No. 4 car led 223 laps before damage took him out of contention for win
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A left front tire went down on Kevin Harvick‘s car on Lap 252, which saw the polesitter’s dominating run take a hit in the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
However, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was never in any real danger of missing the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and ultimately, finished 13th in the race, which was more than good enough to advance him in the Chase.
The resulting pit stops under the caution from his tire trouble dropped Harvick to 21st place but he was able to stay on the lead lap after coming several times for left-side tires and to repair damage from the flat tire.
Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team told him over the radio that the inner valve stem in the left front was knocked out, causing the tire to go down.
Harvick radioed to his crew: “I mean, something had to cut that tire, don’t you think? … That’s two times here.”
Earlier in the race, Harvick thought he had a broken left shock telling his team, “the left front is slamming on the ground. After the team closely monitored the issue, it appeared that everything was ok with the car.
Harvick led a race-high 223 laps in the race. His 13th-place finish was good enough to advance to the Contender Round. Entering the Dover race, Harvick needed to finish no worse than 36th with the most laps led to clinch a spot in the next round of the Chase.
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