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Past Sprint Cup Champion Kevin Harvick outlasted both the soggy weather and his opponents en route to a victory in Sunday's rescheduled Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

The win for Harvick, who finished 1.933 seconds ahead of second place finisher Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., is his second victory of the 2016 season and his second career victory at Bristol. Harvick's other triumph at Bristol came all the way back in the Spring of 2005. 

Harvick managed to lead 128 laps and finish off a race which is something he believes they have failed to do on multiple occassions this season.

“We should have won a lot of races this year but we just had things not go our way," Harvick explained. "We made mistakes, or whatever the case may be. But to get back into victory lane here at Bristol feels really good. We’ve had some good cars here over the last few years. And to have Busch Beer on the car; we’ve had crummy luck with these guys on the car and so I’m just really happy for Busch and Jimmy John’s and really proud of these guys on the No. 4 team. We knew we had the performance that we needed to have in the cars pretty much every week. And it’s been one of those deals where things have just not gone exactly right. But to have the win now and just try to get that momentum before we get into the Chase and get things rolling is really what we needed.”

While Ricky Stenhouse, Jr, finished a distant second to Harvick, he was able to match his career best finish of second place which he also accomplished at Bristol in 2014. Stenhouse, Jr, who drove the No. 17 Fastenal Ford with a tribute to the late Bryan Clauson, believes the team worked hard all day and benefitted from some lucky breaks.

“Our finish wasn’t from a lack of hard work and being lucky a few times," Stenhouse, Jr., said. "We really wanted to get this Bryan Clauson tribute car in victory lane. It just wasn’t meant to be today. We made our car a lot faster throughout the race and came from two laps down to get back on the lead lap. We missed some wrecks and gave it all we had. I thought we were matching (Harvick) lap for lap but he got away from us and we had to restart sixth there on that last restart. It was an honor to drive this car. All of the fans that came out this weekend. This place was pretty packed last night. Thanks to all the fans that were able to stay around. I thought the track was really good. You could run the bottom. You could run the top.  We just wanted one more spot. That’s all we can think about is getting ourselves a win."

Denny Hamlin, who notched his lone career Bristol win in 2012, managed to grab a third-place finish at the 0.533-mile Tennessee speedway. Hamlin was satisfied with the way his team finished and admitted he knew they did not have what it took to win Sunday's race.

“We had a great car and we definitely got it a lot better there at the end and proud that we’re able to come back from two laps down and get a good finish out of it," Hamlin said. "But still a good overall day for our FedEx Express Camry. Just came up a little short. I feel good. We didn’t have a race-winning car today, to be honest with you. Our balance was off a little bit – so I think we maximized our day to be honest. I would have loved to race on straight up tires there, but we had to do some strategy there to get our track position back, so it was a very par day for us.”

Austin Dillon finished in fourth place just ahead of rookie Chris Buescher, pole winner Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, AJ Allmendinger, and Joey Logano rounding out the top ten. 

Kyle Busch, who led 256 of the race's 500 laps, suffered from a mechanical failure and was forced to settle for a 39th place finish. Busch expressed serious frustration at losing races with parts issues this close to NASCAR's Chase for the Championship.

“We’ve been having parts failures here, so something we’ve got to address and fix," Busch explained. "I’m really tired of losing races here with parts falling apart, so they’ll hear about it on Tuesday. It (the rear gear box) finally did break and it was breaking, but it finally did break and I couldn’t hold onto it there and it spun out and then spun out the wrong way and it’s frustrating. We’ve had really, really fast race cars here. The guys do a great job setting them up, but, man, we’ve got parts failures, you know? You can’t have parts failures in this business. That’s stupid. My Camrys have been fast. We’ve just got to stop making stupid mistakes that take us out of races.”

Kevin Harvick not only won the race but extended his tight grip on the points standing with a 27 point advantage over Brad Keselowski, who was involved in the race's biggest wreck and forced to finish in 33rd place. With only three races remaining until the Chase for the Championship, the Sprint Cup series heads to Michigan International Speedway for the second time this season. 

Harvick knows how important this win was this late into the season and what it brings to a team trying to find a spark prior to the start of NASCAR's elimination playoff system.

"It's all about confidence, and it's all about momentum," Harvick said. "I think we've been confident in our cars, just not confident in closing everything out, from myself, to is it ever really going to happen again, and I think that goes away tonight, and you get back into that -- we know we have fast cars, knowing that you can win again, and it kind of happened that way for us in 2014 at Charlotte when we won, and it just kind of reinstilled that confidence of everything we know we can do, and it finally all just came together tonight. We're three weeks from the end of the regular season, and I don't think it could have come together at a better time.

"Confidence and momentum go a long ways in racing, baseball, football, basketball, whatever it is, and you just want to ride the wave."

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 23
Unofficial Race Results for the 56Th Annual Bass Pro Shops Nra Night Race 
- Saturday, August 20, 2016
Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN - .533 Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 500 Laps - 266.5 Miles
Leader
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    24    4    Kevin Harvick    Busch Beer Chevrolet    500    44    4    126.0    Running    4    128
2    25    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Fastenal Ford    500    39        81.4    Running        
3    2    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Express Toyota    500    39    1    113.8    Running    2    19
4    13    3    Austin Dillon    DOW - Great Stuff Chevrolet    500    37        84.9    Running        
5    12    34    Chris Buescher #    Love's Travel Stops Ford    500    36        85.0    Running        
6    1    19    Carl Edwards    Stanley Toyota    500    36    1    114.4    Running    3    31
7    16    48    Jimmie Johnson    Kobalt Chevrolet    500    34        79.4    Running        
8    28    1    Jamie McMurray    Cessna Chevrolet    500    33        86.2    Running        
9    8    47    AJ Allmendinger    Bush's Grillin Beans Chevrolet    500    32        83.9    Running        
10    10    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    500    32    1    89.2    Running    2    38
11    11    88    Jeff Gordon    Axalta Chevrolet    500    30        88.5    Running        
12    22    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    500    29        68.5    Running        
13    19    5    Kasey Kahne    AARP Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet    500    28        75.5    Running        
14    17    43    Aric Almirola    Waffle House Ford    500    27        66.1    Running        
15    6    24    Chase Elliott #    NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet    500    27    1    94.5    Running    1    14
16    34    16    Greg Biffle    Ford EcoBoost Ford    500    25        62.6    Running        
17    18    83    Matt DiBenedetto    Cosmo Motors Toyota    500    24        58.0    Running        
18    30    44    Brian Scott #    Medallion Financial/Jacob Ford    499    24    1    56.1    Running    1    5
19    26    95    Michael McDowell    Thrivent Financial Chevrolet    499    22        55.4    Running        
20    32    38    Landon Cassill    MDS Transport Ford    497    21        48.5    Running        
21    37    23    David Ragan    Dr Pepper Toyota    497    20        47.2    Running        
22    29    10    Danica Patrick    Nature's Bakery Chevrolet    496    19        43.3    Running        
23    7    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Toyota    496    18        100.3    Running        
24    23    42    Kyle Larson    Huggies Chevrolet    495    17        83.0    Running        
25    21    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    495    16        45.3    Running        
26    33    7    Regan Smith    APC Chevrolet    491    15        36.9    Running        
27    36    55    * Reed Sorenson    Chevrolet    489    14        33.7    Running        
28    15    31    Ryan Newman    Caterpillar Chevrolet    487    14    1    67.8    Running    1    9
29    38    32    Jeffrey Earnhardt #    Can-Am/Kappa Ford    479    12        30.0    Running        
30    27    14    Tony Stewart    Haas Automation Chevrolet    471    11        49.0    Running        
31    31    15    Clint Bowyer    5-hour Energy Chevrolet    470    10        35.8    Running        
32    20    27    Paul Menard    Knauf/Menards Chevrolet    458    9        60.2    Running        
33    9    2    Brad Keselowski    Autotrader Ford    458    8        73.7    Running        
34    35    98    * Cole Whitt    Carolina Skiff Chevrolet    442    7        30.2    Running        
35    4    21    * Ryan Blaney #    Virginia Tech/Motorcraft Ford    437    6        78.9    Running        
36    40    30    * Josh Wise    Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet    416    5        26.4    Running        
37    5    20    Matt Kenseth    Dollar General Toyota    373    4        72.4    Accident        
38    14    41    Kurt Busch    Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet    372    3        85.0    Accident        
39    3    18    Kyle Busch    M&M's 75th Anniversary Toyota    357    4    2    118.8    Accident    6    256
40    39    46    Justin Allgaier(i)    Pilot Flying J/Battle at Bristol Chevrolet    354    0        36.3    Accident        
 Race Comments:    Kevin Harvick won the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, his 33rd career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following car dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: #46 (driver substitution). 
 Failed to Qualify:    N/A
 Time of Race:    3 Hrs, 25 Mins, 05 Secs.    Average Speed:    77.968 MPH    Margin of Victory:    1.933 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    9 for 106 laps: Laps: 32-58 (Fluid on the track [Red Flag - 1:24:04] [15]); 87-91 (Competition caution [23]); 158-164 (#7 Accident in Turn 2 [95]); 255-262 (Debris in Turn 3 [16]); 309-316 (#22, 41 and 42 Accident in Turn 4 [43]); 359-371 (#18, 42, 46 and 78 Accident in Turn 2 [17]); 374-389 (#2, 3, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 41, 42, 44, 48 Accident on the frontstretch [11]); 417-423 (Debris in Turn 2 [44]); 435-449 (Fluid on the track [Red Flag - 6:57] [83]).
 Lead Changes:    20 among 8 drivers: C. Edwards 0; D. Hamlin 1-8; C. Elliott # 9-22; Kyle Busch 23-87; B. Scott # 88-92; R. Newman 93-101; Kyle Busch 102-160; C. Edwards 161-189; Kyle Busch 190-226; C. Edwards 227; Kyle Busch 228-250; C. Edwards 251; Kyle Busch 252-285; K. Harvick 286-309; Kyle Busch 310-347; K. Harvick 348-366; J. Logano 367-403; K. Harvick 404-417; J. Logano 418; D. Hamlin 419-429; K. Harvick 430-500.
Chase Grid Outlook:     1.B. Keselowski 735 (4 wins);2.Kyle Busch 674 (4);3.K. Harvick 762 (2);4.C. Edwards 689 (2);5.D. Hamlin 659 (2);6.J. Johnson 612 (2);7.M. Kenseth 604 (2);8.Kurt Busch 692 (1);9.J. Logano 684 (1);10.M. Truex Jr. 630 (1);11.C. Buescher # 328 (1);12.A. Dillon 596 (0);13.C. Elliott # 588 (0);14.J. Mcmurray 583 (0);15.R. Newman 576 (0);16.T. Bayne 541 (0).
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award    : Kyle Busch, #18     Coors Light Pole Award    : Carl Edwards, #19 131.407 mph
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race"    : Kyle Busch, #18     Ingersoll Rand Power Move    : Carl Edwards, #19 3 positions
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Toyota Racing Development (TRD), #11     Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Kevin Harvick, #4 
Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race    : Ricky Stenhouse Jr, #17 crew chief Nicholas Sandler, 0.099     Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap    : Kyle Busch, #18 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Chris Buescher, #34 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    Aug. 28, 2016 - Michigan International Speedway