Kevin Harvick surges late in Colorado to score second CARS Tour West Pro Late Model victory of season

Kevin Harvick tracked down Jaron Giannini over the closing laps Saturday night, making the winning pass with nine laps to go to win the CARS Tour West Pro Late Model Triple Crown 125 at Colorado National Speedway.

The Bakersfield native entered the weekend fresh off a victory in the Idaho 200 at Stateline Speedway two weeks ago and backed it up with his second CARS Tour West Pro Late Model victory of the season after reeling in Giannini during the closing stages of the 125-lap feature.

Harvick searched every inch of the 3/8-mile oval, leaning on the outside groove as lapped traffic came into play over the final 30 laps. The higher groove eventually gave him enough momentum to drive around Giannini for the victory.

“I think for me I was in a better position because I kind of had my own lane up there with the way that it worked out,” Harvick said. “I knew I wasn’t going to beat him on the bottom lane and all those lap cars fighting for the bottom and that makes it hard when you’re stuck to just one groove. So I knew I was probably going to get to him but I didn’t know if it was going to continue to pick up because the top just kept getting better and better.”

Saturday’s race marked the second leg of the Triple Crown Challenge in the Pro Late Model division, which awards a $20,000 bonus to drivers who compete in all three races at Evergreen Speedway, Colorado National Speedway and Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in October.

It also served as the second and final rivalry race between the CARS Tour West’s Northwest and Southwest Pro Late Model divisions.

Keelan Harvick earned the pole earlier in the afternoon and led the field of 29 Pro Late Models to the green flag.

Giannini, who started alongside the younger Harvick on the front row, took the lead on Lap 3 and quickly began to pull away from the field, setting the early pace in the 125-lap feature.

The race’s first caution flew after 45 consecutive green-flag laps, erasing Giannini’s comfortable advantage.

On the restart, Kevin Harvick, Keelan Harvick and Buddy Shepherd battled fiercely for second, each experimenting with different grooves around the speedway. Despite the fight behind him, Giannini was able to rebuild his lead.

The caution returned on Lap 63 after Mia Lovell spun in Turn 2.

Lovell had worked her way into the top five earlier in the race before fading after the first restart. Entering Turn 1, Ethan Ebert made contact with the rear bumper of Lovell, sending her for a spin. Ebert was sent to the rear of the field for causing the incident.

Once back under green, the race settled into a two-driver battle between Giannini and Kevin Harvick as the pair sliced through lapped traffic. Giannini maintained a slight advantage while Harvick continued to chip away at the gap lap after lap.

With 21 laps remaining, Giannini caught the slower car of Lovell while attempting to put her a lap down. Entering Turn 3, the two made contact, sending Lovell onto the apron while Giannini sustained slight damage to the right-front corner of his machine.

Eight laps later, Harvick capitalized.

Using the momentum of the outside lane, Harvick drove around Giannini exiting Turn 2 with nine laps to go and never looked back. Giannini’s damaged car faded over the closing laps as Harvick pulled away to secure the victory.

“We unloaded this whole weekend ahead of the ball,” Giannini said. “Lapped cars weren’t really our friend today but onto the next one and hopefully we have all our bad luck out of the way. We’ve had a couple of races that we’ve been really good at, so as long as we can just keep this ball rolling, we’ll be in the winner’s circle soon enough.”

Pole winner Keelan Harvick completed the podium in third, followed by Taylor Mayhew in fourth and Colorado native Cody Dempster in fifth.

CARS Tour West Pro Late Model Triple Crown 125 at Colorado National Speedway Results:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Jaron Giannini
3. Keelan Harvick
4. Taylor Mayhew
5. Cody Dempster
6. Buddy Shepherd
7. Haeden Plybon
8. Kyle Keller
9. Robby Sawyer
10. Zach Rihel
11. Wyatt Gardner
12. Andrew Rihel
13. Weston Marthaler
14. Jaiden Reyna
15. Mia Lovell
16. Nathan Gasser
17. Dylan Zampa
18. Ethan Ebert
19. Ryan Phipps
20. James Hamlin
21. Brett Yackey
22. Bristol Bourneman
23. Ken Bonney
24. Bobby Hodges
25. Brad Clarke
26. Adam Coonfield
27. Dylan Cappello
28. Jeff Walbaum
29. Madex Moran