Race winner Kevin Harvick to Marty Snider on his continued Chase success: “It is hard to keep yourself motivated and try to perform at a high level, so to be able to come out here and do it for three years now says a lot about the character of this team.”
Jeff Burton on Harvick: “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a team that so many times, over-and-over again in high pressure situations, finds a way to do it.”
Steve Letarte on next weekend’s elimination race: “When this series unloads at Talladega next week I’m not sure that anyone, other than Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, can sleep at night.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — October 16, 2016 – NBC presented the penultimate race in the Round of 12 this afternoon from Kansas Speedway. The race culminated with Kevin Harvick securing a win and punching his ticket into the Round of 8. Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott all currently stand below the cut line and will push all of their chips into the middle next week at Talladega to ensure their future in the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Inside the NBC broadcast booth, race announcer Rick Allen and analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte called the action. Working the pits were NBC reporters Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Mike Massaro and Dave Burns.
RACE RESULTS
| Position | Driver | Car # |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick | 4 |
| 2 | Carl Edwards | 19 |
| 3 | Joey Logano | 22 |
| 4 | Jimmie Johnson | 48 |
| 5 | Kyle Busch | 18 |
UPDATED 2016 CHASE STANDINGS
| Position | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | Win |
| 2 | Kevin Harvick | Win |
| 3 | Matt Kenseth | 3074 |
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 3072 |
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 3069 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | 3062 |
| 7 | Martin Truex Jr. | 3058 |
| 8 | Joey Logano | 3045 |
| 9 | Austin Dillon | 3045 |
| 10 | Denny Hamlin | 3039 |
| 11 | Brad Keselowski | 3038 |
| 12 | Chase Elliott | 3020 |
The following are highlights from this afternoon’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race coverage on NBC.
Kevin Harvick to Burton via radio communication before the green flag: “We can’t help when things go wrong. This is not near as big a hole as we have been in before, and we have performed well in those situations.”
Letarte on Harvick at Lap 149: “The two and a half year run Kevin Harvick has been on in this Chase format is really unbelievable. Year one, he made it all the way to Miami, didn’t get eliminated and won the Championship. In must win situations, he won out the last two races to end up with that Championship. He came back last year and got all the way to Miami. While he didn’t win the Championship, last year, he advanced all the way through. And now again, he had an issue last week in Charlotte and came here (to Kansas) and is leading the race with 119 to go.”
Burton on the contact between Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin on Lap 190 that sent Keselowski spinning into the grass: “Keselowski thought he was clear, but when he was moving up the racetrack he wasn’t anticipating getting that loose. He got crazy loose, had to lift off the throttle and I would imagine Denny Hamlin got in the back of him.”
Burton during the sixth caution on lap 193: “So now in the second race of this round, half the Chase contenders have had a problem. Now there is a battle amongst themselves. It is almost a story of two different series. Trouble for half of them, the other guys are moving along fine.”
Keselowski to Stavast after multiple issues ending his day in Kansas: “It is an automotive warzone out here… I probably could have braced a little bit, and raced less hard. I had a big points gap coming here. With this format that was probably the smart thing to do, but I don’t want to race like that. I want to race my guts out. I want to go for wins. I don’t want to points race.”
Allen on race winner Harvick: “Every time they have been put in a position where they have to do something special to advance from one round to the next, they rise to the occasion.”
Burton in response: “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a team that so many times, over-and-over again in high pressure situations, finds a way to do it. It is not a coincidence. Harvick doesn’t mind getting behind; he finds it as a challenge.”
Letarte added: “Kevin Harvick, Rodney Childers and Stewart Haas Racing, since this group came together, their run has been unbelievable.”
Race winner Harvick to Snider on his continued Chase success: “It is hard to keep yourself motivated and try to perform at a high level, so to be able to come out here and do it for three years now says a lot about the character of this team.”
Letarte on next weekend’s elimination race: “I think if you were going to a standard mile and a half racetrack, you could say that Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, even Carl Edwards, have to feel good. But we are not, we are going to Talladega. When this series unloads at Talladega next week I’m not sure that anyone, other than Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, can sleep at night.”
– NBC SPORTS GROUP –