Home

NASCAR

WATCH: Kevin Harvick Barely Defeats Carl Edwards to Victory at the Phoenix Raceway

Published 03/13/2022, 9:55 AM EDT

Follow Us

via Getty

Kevin Harvick currently has 58 wins and a Cup Series championship under his belt. However, one can argue that the 2016 Cup race win at the Phoenix Raceway was his best-ever win. This was because he engaged in a titanic battle with Carl Edwards for the victory and barely beaten him.

Heading to the white flag, Harvick led Edwards, who was right on his tail. The duo were in a class of their own, as the rest of the field dropped further behind them. Meanwhile, Edwards hunted down Harvick and then stuck his car’s nose down the inside of the Stewart-Haas car. Then, the two of them traded paint right until they reached the finish line in unison.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Edwards initiated the first bit of contact, but Kevin Harvick responded with a wheel-bang of his own. Slow-motion replays showed that the #4 Chevrolet was millimeters ahead of the Toyota. In fact, the official timings registered that Harvick had a 0.010-second margin of victory over Carl Edwards.

How did the race pan out for Kevin Harvick?

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

According to some, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Busch were the fastest cars out there. Busch had even qualified on pole position but ultimately ended the race in 4th place, while Dale Jr was 5th on the track. However, in spite of all that, Harvick led most of the second half of the race.

via Getty

The #4 driver snatched the lead on lap 169, and a few laps later, registered his 9000th career lap as a race leader. Unfortunately, a caution and a pit road scramble saw Edwards take over the race lead. In spite of this, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver quickly took the lead back and kept it. Heading into overtime, Carl Edwards looked exceptionally threatening, but Harvick weathered the storm.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Exclusive Invite for NASCAR Community

EssentiallySports gives you the power to decide who drives the #14 on 20th April

Kevin Harvick Welcomes ‘New Stewart-Haas Racing’ Fan, Rapper DaBaby, at Brooklyn Nets NBA Game

In the end, the two of them became immortalized in Phoenix history, recording the closest ever finish in NASCAR.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Dhruv George

14,311Articles

One take at a time

Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
Show More>