NASCAR 2022: 65 races later, Kevin Harvick emerges victor at NASCAR Michigan race

Kevin Harvick reached Victory Lane on Sunday’s Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. The 46-year-old driver secured his first win of the 2022 season after beating Bubba Wallace Jr. by a huge margin in the closing laps of the 200-mile-long FireKeepers Casino 400.

A late-race caution during the green-flag pit stops helped Harvick end a 65-race drought with a win on Sunday. FireKeepers Casino 400 has allowed Harvick to secure his playoff spot, making sure that he doesn’t need to rely on points anymore.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver emerged victorious when contending cars ahead of him elected to pit but he remained out and inherited the top spot. Harvick steadily built a solid margin of four seconds between himself and his opponent and took an impressive 2.903-seconds win on the 2-mile-long track. He dominated the last 37 laps as he took over the lead on lap 162 of 200 from Wallace Jr. with some skilful drives around the turn.

The win marked the 59th Cup victory for the 2014 Cup Series champion, making him the 10th driver with the most wins in Cup Series history and becoming the 15th different winner of the 2022 season.

On Twitter, NASCAR congratulated Kevin Harvick on winning his first Cup Series race of the season at Michigan International Speedway.

See the Tweet below:

The FireKeepers Casino 400 saw 15 lead changes among 10 different drivers. The venue hosted its 54th Cup race and the new Next Gen cars for the first time on the 2-mile-long track and witnessed seven caution flags.

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Kevin Harvick talks about his FireKeepers Casino 400 win

Sunday’s win was amazing for Kevin Harvick and the #4 Stewart-Haas Racing team as he locked his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. With the win, he gained 43 points and stands ninth in the latest release of the Cup Series points table.

During the post-race interview, speaking about his first win of the 2022 season at Michigan International Speedway, Harvick said:

“I’m just really proud of everybody on our team. They’ve worked all year long trying to make these Mustangs run faster. My guys have done a great job to take what we have, maximize it and do the things we need to do. I’m just really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

NASCAR Cup Series returns next weekend for Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway. The action will go live at 3:00 pm EST on Sunday, August 14, 2022.