NASCAR Barometer: Harvick Wins Second Brickyard

Kevin Harvick put the pedal to the metal and ran out front for the majority of Sunday's Brickyard 400, claiming his second win in the race and gaining vital momentum ahead of the 10-race run to the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series championship. The win was Harvick's third of the season and second in the last five races. Harvick's surge into the playoffs could mean concern for Joe Gibbs Racing as their season-long dominance seems to be drawing level with other contenders. We have it all to play for this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the top 16 championship contenders seek to get off on a positive note, perhaps with a win, in the first round of eliminations.

Joey Logano, who finished as the runner up Sunday in Indy, is the defending winner from the Las Vegas spring race. At that time, Penske Racing had a nice advantage over the rest of the field, but the times have changed since then. Sunday was Logano's first top-five finish since Chicago, and now all other 15 championship contenders will be reset in points and look to get out of the blocks quickly out West on Sunday.

UPGRADE

Kevin Harvick – Harvick had speed on his side throughout Sunday's Brickyard 400 and used it to wrest away the momentum from the rest of the playoff field as he went on to win the final regular season race. Harvick drove a nearly perfect race as others around him suffered issues. Harvick confidently used the machine his team gave him to run up front and he was mistake-free, which gave him the lead and the race win. It took a long time for this team to come to the front, but they did it in the final run up to playoffs. Harvick has two Las Vegas wins to his credit and finished fourth there earlier this season. Harvick might be coming to his best at the perfect moment this season.

William Byron – Byron's fourth-place finish at Indianapolis was his first since Pocono and sees him confidently amass some momentum as he enters the championship playoff hunt. That top-five was his best at the circuit in two tries after finishing 19th there last season. He has yet to grab a top-10 at Las Vegas but finished 16th there earlier this year in his best finish at the track. He will need to find some consistency and an elusive win to see himself advance in the elimination rounds, but more performances like last week's will see him confidently become one of the main contenders. His time has yet to come, and Byron continues to show great promise for the future.

Joey Logano – Logano was the benefactor of his teammate's demise in the first stage of Sunday's Brickyard 400. The Penske Racing driver won the stage that ended under caution after a big accident between teammate Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones. Logano then put himself in position to challenge for the win in the final laps but came up short against a dominant Harvick. The Penske Racing driver simply didn't have what it would take to challenge such a dominant car, but with his first top-10 finish since New Hampshire he should be raring to go for another championship fight this week. Logano won at Las Vegas for the first time earlier this season when he started from the 10th position.

Daniel Suarez – Contact with the turn 4 wall early in Sunday's playoff decider put Suarez behind where he wanted to be early in the running. That small misstep could have been the difference between making the championship playoffs and not. As it stood, his finish was not enough to overcome Ryan Newman to claim a spot in the championship battle. The story wasn't that black and white, however. Suarez and Newman were just a few places apart in the final laps as the Stewart-Haas Racing driver drove for what could have been his future with team and came up short. Suarez has just one top-10 Las Vegas finish. He led 12 laps there earlier this season but converted that to just a 17th-place finish. It was a good effort but too little too late.

DOWNGRADE

Kyle Busch – Busch suffered an engine failure late in the second stage of Sunday's Brickyard 400 after winning Saturday's Xfinity series race at the speedway. The former champion's effort expired in smoke Sunday, leaving him with a gap to fill as the playoffs begin this week in Las Vegas. He has one prior win at the circuit, but that was all the way back in 2009. He finished third at the track earlier this season and second to last spring. His average finish from 16 career starts is 12.2 despite an average start of 8.9. He has three top-fives and four top-10s from the last five Las Vegas starts, but Sunday's Brickyard finish was his worst of the season.

Jimmie Johnson – Johnson had it all to do in Sunday's Brickyard 400. His wishes didn't come true, though. Despite running well through much of the race, he found himself involved in race-ending contact at the start of the final stage. The crash meant he will miss his first playoff run since the series introduced the feature. Johnson has no chance of winning another championship this season but must make sure he uses these final 10 races to work with his new crew chief to get ready for what they need to do in 2020. Johnson has won four Las Vegas races but hasn't finished in the top 10 at the track since 2016. That is a terrible statistic to overcome this week.

Kurt Busch – Despite being one of the top machines heading into Sunday afternoon's race, Busch suffered multiple setbacks early in the running and then even more later. Early contact on pit road left him with a severe tire rub, which forced him into an unscheduled pit stop shortly after the first caution. Later on, he became an innocent bystander in Jimmie Johnson's crash at the start of the final stage, effective ending his ability to race up front for a top finish despite having one of the most promising cars on the day. Busch finished fifth from a 28th-place start at Las Vegas earlier this season, which should be good news as he begins his hunt for a second series championship.

Erik Jones – Jones made an attempt on the inside of Brad Keselowski in turn 2 on the final lap of the first stage of the race, and it ended in disaster. The pair collided and tumbled out of the race with heavy contact. Jones went from the high of winning for the first time this season just a week prior, to ending the regular season with a DNF. Jones started from pole at Las Vegas in the fall race last season but only has one top 10 at the track from the spring race last season. Jones will have to pick himself up after a roller coaster two weeks of results to regain some consistency to move through the first round of playoff eliminations.

Brad Keselowski – Keselowski took an awful hit on the final lap of the first stage of Sunday's Brickyard 400 after colliding with Erik Jones earlier in the turn. The pair were racing near the front of the field, but neither made it to the back straight in that final circuit before the stage finish. Keselowski has quietly been taking advantage of opportunities presented to him this season to remain in the championship fight, and this week that fight commences in earnest. He has won three times prior at Las Vegas and hasn't finished outside of the top five there since 2012. That is an impressive run of results, and after last week's scare, he will be hopeful that a top-10 or top-five finish this week will get his playoffs started on the right foot.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Darrell Wallace Jr. – Wallace hasn't had a ton of finishes to celebrate this season but drove an impressive race to finish in the third position Sunday in the Brickyard 400. It was Wallace's first top-five finish of the season and his best result since the All-Star race when he finished fifth. This was his first top finish of the season and goes to show that with better equipment, he could be achieving more than he's been able to this season. Wallace's best Las Vegas finish so far was 21st in 2018's spring race. His average finish from three career starts is only 28.3, but that shouldn't take anything away from what he accomplished last week at Indianapolis.