The second round of the Chase began on Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The big story entering the race was the feud that happened after last week's race between Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. Before the race, both drivers declined to talk about the incident, with Johnson saying that he was focusing on the race at hand.

Harvick came into the race as one of a handful of drivers that essentially needed a win to advance to the next round, with Clint Bowyer being another (especially after the 25 point penalty he was assessed by NASCAR following the race at Chicagoland). 

Carl Edwards started the race from pole and shot out front to lead the opening 13 laps before Harvick caught him. However, it would take Harvick seven laps before he finally passed Edwards on Lap 20. Edwards then got passed by Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski to drop him back to fourth position. 

The first caution came out on Lap 37 when Aric Almirola made heavy contact with the wall. Almirola was able to get out of the car and walk to the ambulance to take him to the infield care center. While he did that, the rest of the field hit pit road for their first pit stops of the day.

Harvick was able to maintain his lead by winning the race off pit road. Denny Hamlin was the big winner coming off pit road, gaining four positions. Cole Whitt did not pit immediately, so he got credited with leading a lap. He did eventually pit, allowing Harvick to lead the field to green.

Landon Cassil brought out the second caution on Lap 48 when he had a power steering leak, which resulted in a bit of fluid being left on the track. Harvick led the field back to green on Lap 53, followed by Keselowski and Hamlin.

The third caution came out on Lap 60 when Tony Stewart had a left front tire rub, which resulted in him hitting the wall. That set up some cars to play some pit strategy, as some on the end of the lead lap made two=tire pit stops, looking for any advantage available to them over the competition. The race returned to green on Lap 65, with Harvick leading the field to the flag.

The race then would remain green until Lap 120 when Alex Bowman hit the wall, bringing out the fourth caution of the race. That allowed the field to make their pit stops under caution. Harvick won the race off pit road, with Joey Logano gaining two positions on pit road. Harvick then led the field back to green on Lap 125.

The next caution came out when Kyle Busch hit the wall, forcing him to go to the garage. The field took the opprutunity to make pit stops. Casey Mears gained 22 positions on pit road to put him in the top-10. 

The sixth caution was for debris, and came out on Lap 193. That set up the teams for their second-to-last pit stops of the race. Harvick led the cars onto pit road, and took four tires, while Matt Kenseth only took two tires. That helped Kenseth to win the race off pit road, while Harvick fell back to seventh coming off pit road. 

Kenseth then led the field back to green, while Harvick did everything he could to get back to the front, including going almost to the grass in Turn one, trying to pass. Jimmie Johnson had issues on Lap 200 when he cut a left front tire, but was able to avoid bringing out a caution, as he went to pit road to get his tire changed. Johnson did fall a lap down during his pit stop.

The caution did come out on Lap 205 when Danica Patrick spun out, then was blindsided by David Ragan. The contact practically ripped the back end off of Patrick's car. Patrick was able to drive her car away and Ragan was able to walk away from his car. NASCAR did throw the red flag to lean up all of the debris on the track - mainly the foam that came out of Ragan's car.

When they went back to green, it did not las for long, as Brett Moffitt wrecked on Lap 210 to bring out another caution. They restarted with Kenseth in the lead, with Hamlin in second place. Hamlin finally passed Kenseth on Lap 219, while Harvick, who led the field in laps led, was battling for fifth position with Keselowski.

Justin Allgaier crashed with just 62 laps to go to bring out another caution. The race restarted with 58 to go with Biffle leading who soon got a fierce test from Keselowski; Biffle was able to prevent Keselowski from passing him. NASCAR reviewed the restart, and ended up black flagging Keselowski for a "restart violation." He had to serve a pass-through penalty, which gave second position to Harvick.

Harvick then wasted no time in catching up to and passing Biffle. That allowed Harvick to go into fuel saving mode to try and extend his fuel mileage. 

In the final laps, it was Kenseth chasing Harvick, who was trying to save fuel.

Harvick finally ran out of fuel with just three laps to go, allowing Kenseth to cruise past him. Kenseth then ran unopposed to the end, taking the win and clinching his spot in the second round of the Chase.

For Harvick, it was a dissapointing finish to an otherwise great day. He led the most laps, but ran out of fuel and ended up finishing in 21st position, which leaves him in the 15th position in the points - right where was prior to this weekend.

The series now moves to Dover Raceway next weekend for the first elimination race of the Chase. Drivers in the top-12 at the end of next week's race will advance, while the four who do not make it will be eliminated.

Stay tuned to @NASCARonVAVEL on Twitter for coverage leading up to and during the round next weekend at Dover.


Stevie Larson is a writer for the VAVEL USA NASCAR section. You can follow him on Twitter @littletwinsfan.

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Stevie Larson
NASCAR Editor, Minnesota sports fan. Contact: [email protected]