Harvick wins at Michigan for NASCAR-high 7th victory of year

Kevin Harvick broke a tie atop NASCAR’s Big 3 with a dominant performance, easily winning at Michigan International Speedway for his Cup-high seventh victory of the season.

His No. 4 Ford finished 3-plus seconds ahead of Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford on Sunday.

Kyle Busch, who started the day with the points lead, finished third in his No. 18 Toyota — more than 4 seconds behind Harvick.

Busch has won six races this year and Martin Truex Jr. has finished in first four times. The rest of the field has combined to win just six of 23 races.

Truex Jr., the third driver in NASCAR’s Big 3 with Harvick and Busch, was 14th in the 40-car field in his No. 78 Toyota.

Keselowski said he couldn’t be more aggressive late in the 200-lap race because Harvick was so far ahead.

Austin Dillon, in the No. 3 Chevrolet, was fourth followed by Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford.

Harvick was each of three stages and led 108 laps, more than four times more than anyone else on the 2-mile oval.

Truex was running with the leaders during the second stage before running out of gas and going into the pits, which were closed. He was penalized for an uncontrollable tire and pushed to the back of the 40-car field.

Soon after a restart early in the race, William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet got loose and made side-by-side contact with Truex to bring out another caution flag.

Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag for the second straight week, but his No. 11 Toyota could not stay ahead. He ended up eighth at MIS after finished 13th in last week’s race at Watkins Glen.