With the sun setting Sunday over Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hamlin seven laps from victory, he went careening into the first-turn wall, and Harvick beat Matt Kenseth off the final restart to pull away.
“We knew he was really close on tires, so (crew chief) Rodney (Childers) said on the radio to keep the pressure on him,” Harvick said. “It’s the Brickyard, this is what I grew up wanting to do, so to come here and win for the third time is something I couldn’t have dreamed up.”
Harvick won for the 53rd time to move within one of tying Lee Petty for 11th on NASCAR’s career list, and it gave Stewart-Haas Racing a sweep of the weekend after Chase Briscoe’s win Saturday in the Xfinity Series race.