Get out of the way!

Kevin Harvick bumps past Kyle Busch at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to claim the checkered flag in the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

It was only fitting that the two drivers tied for the Cup Series lead in victories this season battled it out head-to-head over the last twenty laps at New Hampshire on Sunday. Using a little "love tap" to clear Kyle Busch out of the groove with seven laps remaining, Kevin Harvick crossed the finish line first to win his sixth race of the season.

"I just didn’t know if I was going to get there again and felt like that was my best opportunity to do what I had to do to win. I didn’t want to wreck him but I didn’t want to waste a bunch of time behind him," Harvick said after the race. "I knew I was running out of laps, and I didn’t know if I was going to get to him again. I felt like I needed to get him up out of the groove, so I got him up out of the groove."

After Clint Bowyer nailed the outside wall to bring out the final yellow caution flag of the day, Kyle Busch took advantage of a speedy pit stop by his crew to take the race lead when the action resumed on Lap 263. He pulled away from the field after the re-start, but "The Closer" Harvick had already begun to track him down.

"We controlled the restart, drove away by a little bit, but we weren’t the best car on the long run," said Busch. "The SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) cars were all really good today. They were fast. It was going to be hard to hold them off."

Tired of running in second place, Harvick gave Busch a little push during Lap 294 to try to knock him out of the groove. Busch was able to hang on however, so Harvick gave him a harder bump on the next lap to slide him up the track. Harvick zoomed by the No. 18 and held on to first for the remaining six laps for the win. The victory is his third win on the "Magic Mile" of New Hampshire and the 43rd of his career.

Just a few weeks removed from using the same tactics to knock Kyle Larson out of the way at Chicagoland, Busch seemed content with Harvick's maneuvers.

"You know, it’s racing," said Busch. "With a faster car I’m not sure he had to do it. He did, it’s fine. How you race is how you get raced. So it’s fine."

After making changes to all of its pit crews this week, Stewart-Haas Racing suffered another pit mishap with the No. 10 of Aric Almirola. Almirola was leading the race heading into the final pit-stop when trouble with his left front tire caused him to fall to third place for the re-start. Once the green flag fell, Almirola spun his tires and fell to sixth place. He was able to recover to finish the race in third place. Despite leading 42 laps and attaining his first top-five finish of the season, Almirola was disappointed after the race.

"You’d think I’d be more excited to run top five – and I’m not," said Almirola. "We had the best car, hands down. There’s no doubt in my mind. And we gave it away on pit road and then I gave it away again on the restart – spun the tires. Didn’t even give myself a fighting chance."

Pre-race favorite Martin Truex Jr. led 83 laps and finished in fourth place. No driver has led more laps at New Hampshire in its last five races than Truex, but he still hasn't found victory lane for his first career win here. As usual, he was strong early in the race but faded as the day wore on.

"We were fast early," said Truex. "We tried hard, but we just can’t quite figure out the second half of this thing, but when we do we’re going to be in good shape."

Chase Elliott finished in fifth place, his best career finish at New Hampshire. While still having struggles on the cookie-cutters, the No. 9 race team continues to find success on the flat tracks. Elliott has finished in the top-five in all three flat track races this year.

"I’m proud of the effort," Elliott said. "It was a huge points day for us. Obviously, we’d love that win to not have to worry about it. But, we got 19 points between the two stages, that’s 19 positions on-track, and that’s a lot. Anything can happen in these next few weeks and to have all you can get is really important."

Ryan Newman, Ryan Blaney, pole sitter Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson round out the top 10. Kurt Busch led a race high 94 laps. Jimmie Johnson finished in the top-ten for the first time in six races.

"I think top 10 is where we need to be," Johnson said. "Top five right now on sheer speed is something we are achieving and trying to get to. We scored some great points in the stages. … All-in-all we had a good day, always could be better, but a nice solid step forward."

Martin Truex Jr. was the winner of Stage One. Chase Elliott nabbed the checkered green for Stage Two, his first stage win of the season. Both drivers will receive a bonus point for the postseason.

Click here for full race results.

Kyle Busch remains the leader of the NASCAR drivers points standings. Kevin Harvick sits in second place 53 points behind Busch, while Martin Truex Jr. is in third 104 points behind. Joey Logano remains in fourth place 165 points behind Busch.

You can see the updated Driver's Points Standings here.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will head to the Keystone State next week for the Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Raceway on July 29th.

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_{Photo credits: Winston 1085 CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons}

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_{Author: @chops316
Editor: @liberty-minded}

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