Kevin Harvick reasserted himself as the NASCAR “Cactus King” as he edged out Carl Edwards for the win in the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Speedway.

The race Sunday afternoon (3/13) in the desert just outside Phoenix promised to be an interesting one, and it delivered. There was side-by-side racing throughout the field from start to finish.

During the 313 lap race there were five caution flags as drivers used their breaks a lot and heated up the tires melting the beads causing tire blowouts. One of those caution periods came with just a handful of laps left.

Kevin Harvick had again dominated at Phoenix as he led a race high 139 laps among the four drivers that exchanged the lead seven times. Kevin had built a comfortable lead with the laps winding down until that final yellow flag erased his lead and put the race in a NASCAR overtime situation.

When the green flag was issued to restart the race, Kevin was able to get out in the lead again. However, Carl Edwards began tracking him down. Carl got next to Kevin on the final laps as the two cars came together through the final turns. Neither car wrecked, but raced to the checkered flag bouncing off each other. As they crossed the finish line it was Kevin claiming the victory by inches and only 0.01 seconds.

The win extended Kevin’s all-time race win record at Phoenix with eight career wins in his Sprint Cup career. It also marks his fifth win out of the last six times NASCAR has raced at the track (six out of last seven).

As noted above, Carl Edwards claimed second place by just inches behind Kevin with Denny Hamlin finishing third. Kyle Busch who started on the pole was able to finish in fourth place with Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounding out the top five. See the complete race results in the Good Sam 500 here,

The win in Phoenix not only puts Kevin Harvick on the list of drivers with a win on the Chase Grid who are all but guaranteed at spot in The Chase, it also moves him up two spots to be the leader in the point standings. Kyle Busch slips a spot to second place with Jimmie Johnson also falling a spot to third. Kurt Busch moves up a spot to fourth while Carl Edwards advances two places to fifth. See the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings here.

The West Coast Swing continues this week as NASCAR heads to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for the Auto Club 400 Sunday, March 20th.

By: Buck Stevens