Monster Energy Series drivers were back to Texas for the final time this season as the championship chase continued.
At the drop of the green it was Denny Hamlin getting the race lead as it got wild in the back for position. Kyle Busch and Brad Keslowski both wind up with ultra early problems and were both down at lap 2 to replace bad tires. As the long green flag run continued Kyle Larson started to get hot and took the race lead at lap 47. Around lap 54 it was the start of green flag pit stops and when they were over Kyle Larson was back in the race lead. The green flag racing continued and at lap 68 it was unscheduled pit stop time for Jimmie Johnson. A couple laps later it was Kevin Harvick getting the race lead and then went on to win the first stage. The leaders pit and Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road.
The second stage started off with a quick caution at lap 92 for Daniel Suarez and Kasey Kahne that get together. We get a new long green flag run with Kyle Larson leading more and more laps. With under 30 laps to go in the second stage we got a new round of green flag pit stops where Joey Logano picked up a speeding penalty. The really long green flag continued and Kyle Larson won the second stage.
The third stage started off with a early caution as Landon Cassill spins out to bring out the caution. We get a new long green flag run where at lap 225 it was pit stop time with Kyle Busch getting to lead some laps under this time period. He stayed out long enough that the caution came out around lap 234 to save Kyle Busch big time. This put Martin Truex Jr. back into the race lead.
We get some short green flag runs with cautions coming out at lap 242 and 269 for Ray Black Jr. that spins out. This left Denny Hamlin in the race lead. At lap 282 Kyle Larson wrecks out to bring out the caution. This included some red flag time. When the green flag racing continued Martin Truex Jr. was back to the race lead again. As the laps quickly went down Kevin Harvick was closing in on Martin for the race lead. With 10 laps Kevin was right behind Martin for the race lead. On the next lap Kevin took the race lead and started to pull away from Martin and then went on to the race win.
Kevin Harvick stated that the cars have improved so much since the start of the playoffs.
“Struggled a little bit on the long run,” said Martin Truex Jr. who finished second.
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