Ticket Guardian 500 at Phoenix Race Recap

Harvick snares third checkered flag in a row.

This is starting to become old news. Kevin Harvick won his third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race in a row by taking the checkered flag at the Ticket Guardian 500 at Phoenix on Sunday. He becomes the first NASCAR driver to win three consecutive races since Kyle Busch accomplished the feat in 2015. The victory is Harvick's record-breaking 9th career win at ISM Raceway.

The victory was especially sweet for Harvick's No. 4 race team, who were hit with fines and suspensions after the No. 4 car failed a postrace inspection after their win in Las Vegas. In his Fox Sports postrace interview, Harvick didn't hold back his feelings. “I’ve been pissed, is what I’ve been. I’ve been mad as all get out. This team does a great job, this organization does a great job and we’ve got fast race cars. And to take that away from those guys just really pissed me off last week.”

Kyle Busch came in second despite leading a race-high 128 laps. Busch had been battling with Harvick for the lead heading into the last round of green-flag pit stops. A premature jack drop cost Busch a few precious seconds during that last stop, he ended up finishing less than one second behind Harvick. "We lost the race on pit road today. There’s been races where I’ve won it on pit road, too. We’ll just have to go into next week and see what we can do there," said Busch to Fox Sports.

Chase Elliott became the first Hendricks Motorsports driver to finish in the top five this season with his third place finish. Elliott had the advantage on Harvick and Busch with 40 laps remaining, but in the end he didn't have enough horsepower to keep the lead. Phoenix remains one of Elliott's best tracks in his young career. He has finished in the top seven in four out of five career starts there.

The top ten was rounded out by Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, and Kurt Busch. Both Stewart-Haas Racing (Harvick, Bowyer, Almirola, Kurt Busch) and Joe Gibbs Racing (Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Suarez, Jones) placed four drivers in the top ten, a first for both enterprises. Hendrick Motorsports (Elliott) and Furniture Row Racing (Truex Jr.) nabbed the other top ten finishes.

Click here for full race results.

Kyle Busch was the winner of stage one, his brother Kurt won stage two.
You can see the updated Driver's Points Standings here.

The Monster Energy Nascar Cup series continues its western swing next Sunday with the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California.

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