Kevin Harvick and his No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing made a big mistake late in the United Rentals Work United 500 Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona on Sunday.
Harvick took over the lead from Kyle Larson on Lap 269 in Stage 3. He was leading for another 36 laps until he and the other top cars went in to change tires on Lap 305. Rather than take two new tires like everyone else, the No. 4 Ford team opted for four tires.
Harvick came out of the stop seventh after going into it as the leader. Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin all took two tires and slipped in front of Harvick. There were just over three laps to go by the time they were cleared to race after caution, which made it difficult for Harvick to catch up.
His path to first was blocked on the restart, but caution came out on Lap 310, leading the race to go to overtime, where William Byron won for the second week in a row. Harvick finished fifth.
After the race, Harvick was asked by FOX’s Jamie Little about taking four tires.
“It’s what I would have done. I’d always rather be on offense,” Harvick said. “I didn’t get a couple cars when that first caution came out and kind of lost our chance and still thought I had a chance there at the end … that’s the way it goes.”
Though Harvick’s car was faster on the four tires, that was a miscalculation by his team. There just weren’t enough laps left for them to make up the ground they lost in the stop, and there was too much of a crowd in front of him.