RELATED: Chase Bubble Watch | Complete results from Loudon
LOUDON, N.H. – Kevin Harvick's NASCAR Sprint Cup championship defense took another hard blow Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when the reigning champ's race-leading No. 4 Chevy ran out of gas with three laps remaining in the Sylvania 300.
An understandably frustrated Harvick exited his car, walked quickly from pit road through the garage area staring straight ahead and refused to speak to anyone. His crew chief Rodney Childers also declined to talk to reporters in the garage following the race.
About a half hour after the race, Harvick posted on Twitter: "Fast car. Great day. Bad ending."
It was gut-wrenching outcome for sure for Harvick, who finished 42nd in the opening race of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff last week at Chicago after cutting a tire and getting into the wall. He badly needed a win at New Hampshire, or next week at Dover, Del., to advance to the next elimination round.
By all accounts, it looked like Harvick was on his way to Chase redemption. He qualified on the front row, and his No. 4 Ditech Chevy led a dominating 216 of the race's 300 laps.
His car was so good that at various points during the afternoon he paced the competition by wide margins. He held a usually unheard of seven-second lead over third place and a 12-second lead over fifth place midway through the race.
WATCH: Harvick falters on fuel, Kenseth gets the win
Ultimately he was scored 21st after pitting for a quick splash of fuel.
Childers also took to Twitter about an hour after the race, reiterating what a good car Harvick had all day and explaining what happened.
Harvick is now ranked 15th among the 16 Chase drivers. Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, who have won the first two races of the Chase, plus any third Chase driver who wins at Dover will advance to the Contender Round, along with the other drivers in the top 12. Harvick is now 23 points behind 12th place Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Harvick has never won at Dover's "Monster Mile" but has 13 top-10 finishes in 29 previous starts. He was runner-up in the race there in May and started on the pole in the 2014 Chase race there.