Thank you for joining me for this coverage of the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 in Kentucky, the 15th race of the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Kevin Harvick wins from Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, and all three will compete again tomorrow in the Quaker State 400 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Kevin Harvick on his 2nd Nationwide win of the season, and his second win in this race: "We were able to to get a good restart and hold out until the end."
Despite leading for around 150 laps, Brad Keselowski seems thrilled with second after going as far back as 18th.
Lap 200: HARVICK WINS! Kevin Harvick gets his 42nd NASCAR Nationwide win! Brad Keselowski finishes second, 0.93 seconds behind whilst Kyle Busch is third by 1.85 seconds. Paul Menard and Ryan Blaney round out the top five
Lap 199: It's Harvick from Busch and Keselowski!
Lap 195: Five laps remaining! Harvick takes the lead but Busch and Keselowski close in. It's getting tense at the front!
Lap 191: Another yellow flag with just nine laps left means the race will go to an exciting conclusion and gives Keselowski a chance to get back into the lead in a race he dominated for so long.
Lap 190: Ten to go in the John R. Elliott HERO 300 here, with Busch still leading from Harvick, whilst Keselowski is still in 4th and 4.4 seconds off the lead.
Lap 185: Harvick keeps the pressure on leader Busch but he may not have enough to take him. Meanwhile, Elliott and Larson are just 0.3 seconds apart in the race for tenth!
Lap 180: Just 20 laps to go in Kentucky as Busch narrowly avoids the wall with Harvick by his side. Busch is determined to keep this lead but Harvick and Menard are closing in!
Lap 176: Another yellow flag as Armstrong he loses control without any pressure and drives into the pits. Another restart coming as we see a replay of a nice move to overtake three by Keselowski.
Lap 172: Keselowski has managed to find his way back up to fourth for the restart and I still wouldn't rule him out of winning this at the expense of current leader Busch.
Lap 168: Smith causes another yellow flag after slight contact with Reed causes him to go into the wall and down off the track. He'll be fine to continue but it means another restart.
Lap 166: Busch leads by just 0.3 secnods over Harvick, whilst Keselowski has moved to within five seconds of the lead into seventh.
Lap 161: The race restarts with Keselowski way back in row nine and Busch in the lead from Harvick and Menard.
Lap 157: The yellow flag comes out again as Keselowski falls well behind, leaving Busch to take the lead from Harvick who pits.
Lap 152: Harvick is in the lead, at least until he pits, followed by Gaughan, Bayne, Scott and Buescher. They all still need to go in for a second pit stop though, so they won't last long up there.
Lap 147: Blaney and Dillon pull in for their second pit, as do Busch and Keselowski, and things are starting to get exciting as the battle for the lead intensifies!
Lap 142: Good battle for fourth as Dillon and Larson are split by just over a second, and the second round of pit stops have started. No major players in yet though.
Lap 136: Lovely move on the outside by Larson over Elliott to move into seventh, whilst Kwasniewski blazes into 18th with ease
Lap 130: The green strips on the tyre walls are very offputting. There's no real change in the positions, hence the wall talk.
Lap 125: Busch keeps closing the gap and suddenly he is only 1.4 seconds off the lead. Pit stops projected in the next 20 laps, at least for the leaders.
Lap 117: Keselowski moves into a three second lead as Menard pulls to within half a second of Busch. Blaney rounds out the top four and has a two second lead over Smith in fifth.
Lap 110: Busch moves into second behind fellow Sprint Cup driver Keselowski, but the latter is still 1.5 seconds in the lead. It's pretty much going to be between these two, it seems.
Lap 100: We are halfway! Keselowski is absolutely dominating the field as the battle for second heats up, with 0.2 seconds between Smith and Busch.
Lap 91: Keselowski battles with Regan for the lead as the three exchange first place before Keselowski pulls away slightly. Larson almost loses control on the outside and has to drop back a few places to avoid crashing.
Lap 88: Clements clearly suffered no real damage as he's back out almost instantaneously, although his crash means Keselowski is back to square one again.
Lap 85: Great battle between Blaney and Elliott for 7th, which Blaney wins. And off goes Clements! The number 51 is pushed off track by Sieg and flies into the tyre wall in his attempts to recover! Safety Car unsurprisingly comes out.
Lap 75: Keselowski extends his lead to over three seconds, although Busch overtakes Harvick to move into third and four seconds off the lead.
Lap 70: Pretty straightforward race so far for the favorites, although the middle of the pack is heating up a bit with Dillon, Gaughan and Smith separated by just under a second!
Lap 65: Still a comfortable lead for Keselowski at the front of the field, his 62nd led lap today, and has around 1.5 seconds on Menard.
Lap 60: Once again, Keselowski is pulling away from the pack and has nearly two seconds on Menard in second. Sprint Cup rival Kyle Busch is in fourth, around three seconds off the lead.
Lap 55: Nice move from Elliott on the outside as he glides past Sadler with ease into 6th place!
Lap 50: Officially a quarter of the way through the race now, as Reed and Dillon go head side-by-side for almost half a lap before the latter pulls ahead.
Lap 46: The race restarts after the pit stops with Menard in the lead, although Keselowski takes him on the inside within half a lap.
Lap 42: First pit stops for the leaders as Keselowski loses his lead to Menard for the first time
Lap 39: DiBenedetto, Bliss and Green have retired from the race, whilst everyone from 20th downwards is over a lap behind.
Lap 30: 2.6 second lead for Keselowski now over Busch, whilst Dillon has infiltrated the top five but it still 7 seconds off the lead.
Lap 25: The top five remains as it has been from the start, from Keselowski, Busch, Kenseth, Menard, Elliott.
Lap 19: Interesting battle for 11th between Brendan Gaughan and Kyle Larson, with under half a second splitting them.
Lap 15: Keselowski is still well in the lead, with the top six separated by over five seconds. In fact, second-placed Busch is nearly two seconds behind.
Lap 10: 5% of the way through the race and Keselowski is flying round. He might take some catching
Lap 6: Keselowski still in the lead and looking comfortable, although Busch is still in hot pursuit.
Lap 1: We are underway as Keselowski and Busch hold their pole positions, and we avoid any major incidents.
7:43 PM: The drivers are out, looking prime and ready for the 15th race of this Nationwide Series. Just a couple of minutes until the start!
7:33 PM: We get a rousing rendition of the national anthem and a parachutist as the racers hug their significant others before climbing in their cars, just 10 minutes or so before the race starts.
7:15 PM: A plethora of drivers all look relatively relaxed as they laugh at something on a phone. Probably having a check on Twitter, as most NASCAR drivers are on there.
7:00 PM: 45 minutes until the flag goes up as we get a nice montage from Brad Keselowski's win last year.
6:49 PM: Just around an hour to go until we are underway in Kentucky for the second race of this NASCAR weekend, which will conclude tomorrow with the Quaker State 400 in the Sprint Cup.
6:43 PM: Today marks the 14th edition of this race, which originated in 2001 and was first won by Kevin Harvick in his debut season, however he is yet to add to to his single victory here.
6:38 PM: However Brendan Gaughan, who won the last Nationwide race at Road America, Wisconsin, will hope to build on his first win of the season and will start from 12th as he attempts to begin the second driver this year to win consecutive Nationwide races.
6:30 PM: Along with Keselowski and Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson are among the drivers from the Sprint Cup competing this evening. The Sprint Cup drivers have won nine of the 14 Nationwide races this season.
6:25 PM: In fact, last year's winner Keselowski is looking for his third Nationwide victory in Kentucky, a result that would tie him with Joey Logano for most Nationwide Series wins in this race. However Kyle Busch, hunting for his fourth win of the series, will be aiming to complete a double after winning the Camping World Truck Series race yesterday.
6:23 PM: Paul Menard was fastest for first three rounds of qualifying, however he missed out on pole by 0.217 seconds when it mattered as he hit just over 174 mph.
6:20 PM: Brad Keselowski will begin on pole today after he edged out rival Kyle Busch, who was fasted in practice, by 0.188 seconds. Nationwide leader Regan Smith, on 516 points, starts down in 14th whilst second-placed Elliott Sadler begins in 10th. Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth and Brian Scott round out the top five.
6:15 PM: Welcome to VAVEL USA's live coverage of the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 presented by Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. I'm Oliver Lines and I'll be bringing you all 200 laps of this 300 mile race at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky.