Kevin Harvick claimed his first ever NASCAR XFinity Series victory at AutoClub Speedway after holding off Brendan Gaughan. Harvick led most of the race and his domination of the west coast swing continued as he took the #88 to victory lane.

Gaughan in the #62 had a great run after the last caution flag to claim 2nd ahead of pole sitter Erik Jones in the #20. Reigning series champion Chase Elliott in the #9 took 4th to close the points gap to Ty Dillon in the #3 as Dillon could only get 13th.

Chris Buescher who is pulling double duty this weekend rounded out the top five in the #60 but team mate Darrell Wallace Jr had a bad last 25 laps as he finished 12th after running top five most of the race.

Great work from the XFinity Series regulars today as Harvick was the only Sprint Cup Series driver to be inside the top five at the chequered flag.

Getty Images

As the green flag dropped at 3:17pm ET rookie Erik Jones driving the #20 and Brian Scott driving the #2 brought the field of XFinity Series cars to the start.

Jones lead lap one by the slimmest of margins from Sprint Cup Series regular Keselowski #22 and Scott.

There was a new leader on lap 4 as Hamlin, driving the #54 this weekend, passed Jones into turn one but there was bad luck for Armstrong #43 as he had to make an unscheduled pit stop after hitting the wall.

As they came onto lap 7 Jeff Green driving the #10 took his car off the track and into the garage area.

Leader Hamlin began to lap the tail end of the field as he went onto lap 15 of the 150 lap race, but bad news for Green #10 as his day was done already.

With 25 laps in the book Hamlin #54, Keselowski #22, Jones #20, Harvick #88 and Scott #2 were the top five, leader Hamlin had lead 22 of the 25.

At lap 30 defending XFinity Series champion Elliott in the #9 reported to his team that the oil gauge on his dash was bouncing around and flashing red, but he remained on track.

The first caution of the race was displayed on lap 32 for debris on the track in turn two, Starr in the #44 got the free pass to get his lap back and Hamlin kept the lead off pit lane.

There was trouble on pit road for Buescher in the #60 as a tyre got away from his team and he had to restart in 25th.

Lap 38 was when the race went green again and Harvick took the lead from Hamlin into turns 1 and 2.

Hamlin dropped to 3rd as front row starter Scott went through behind Harvick to take the 2nd spot.

A. Dillon in the #33 had trouble on lap 42 as he lost all power on the car and had to come down pit road for repairs to the car.

Caution #2 was out on track at lap 47 when Hornish Jr in the #98 blew the engine and left debris on the track.

Drivers from 11th on back came down pit road under the caution for tyres and a top up of fuel.

The restart came on lap 52 with Harvick, Jones, Keselowski, Hamlin and Scott the top five but Jones was on point at the end of the lap.

Then the action went up a notch from lap 54 when there was a six car battle for the lead and there were five lead changes over the next two laps.

When it was all sorted out Harvick was back on point at lap 56 from Keselowski and rookie Wallace Jr in the #6.

At lap 61 Harvick had extended his lead to one second but behind him Keselowski, Wallace Jr and Jones were battling three wide for 2nd spot.

Lap 75 brought the half way point in the Drive4Clots.com 300 and Harvick, Wallace Jr, Jones, Smith and Scott were the top five as 36 drivers were still in the race.

Larson in the #42 started the green flag pit stops on lap 76 when he came down pit road for his service.

Rookie Wallace Jr inherited the lead at the end of lap 76 when leader Harvick in the #88 came down pit road for his stop.

Motorsport.com

Lap 79 was when Wallace Jr in the #6 came down pit road for his green flag stop to give Smith in the #7 the lead.

When the race got to 80 laps there was a very different look to the top five - Smith #7, Reed #16, J.Earnhardt #55, Starr #44 and Chastain #4 this was because under the last caution a number of drivers pitted to get into a different schedule to the leaders.

Harvick was back to the lead at lap 87 when the green flag pit stops for the drivers on a different pattern had cycled through.

At the two/thirds point of the race at lap 100 Harvick remained out front in the lead with Jones, Wallace Jr, Scott and Smith making up the top five as thee were just 15 left on the lead lap.

With 110 laps completed Harvick had extended his lead over pole sitter Jones to five seconds as Armstrong #43 and McClure #24 were off track in the garage area.

Lap 112 brought the start of the last green flag pit stops of the race with Sadler in the #1 coming down the pit lane for his stop.

A double whammy for Hamlin in the #54 at lap 114 when he radioed to the team that he thought the car was blowing up and then he got caught speeding leaving pit lane.

The third caution of the race was displayed on lap 118 with just 32 to go in the race for debris on the back straight.

Green flag was back out with 29 laps to go and Harvick was the leader as they came to the line from Wallace Jr.

With 25 to go Gaughan in the #62 shot upto 2nd as he went past Jones as four big name drivers were battling hard for 6th.

Harvick had extended his lead to just over three seconds with only ten laps to go from Gaughan who was holding off pole sitter Jones.

As Harvick came off turn four and crossed the stripe he claimed his first ever XFinity Series victory at AutoClub Speedway after 19 attempts

Getty Images

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Mark Smith
Writer for VAVEL USA as a NASCAR writer in the Racing section. Contact me via Twitter @Marksmiggzy17 or email: [email protected]