Kevin Harvick cruises to Stage 1 win in Miami

Kevin Harvick took the lead from Busch Pole winner Denny Hamlin on Lap 43, and the Championship 4 driver held on to cruise to the Stage 1 win on Lap 80 at the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Harvick recorded a series-leading 19th stage win, but does not officially receive points for the season tally because Championship 4 drivers do not receive stage points for this race.

RELATED: Stage 1 results

Kyle Larson was second in the stage in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet after a late surge buoyed by his ability to drive the high line close to the outside wall in Miami.

The remaining Championship 4 drivers followed Larson in the stage: Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Toyota, Joey Logano in the No. 22 Ford and Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota.

Harvick started the race in 12th in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford after struggling through qualifying and practices throughout the weekend, but by the time cars made their first pit stops around Lap 37, he had worked his way up to second — thanks, in part, to a speedy pit stop that had him exiting ahead of fellow championship contender Busch.

Larson, who started the race in 11th, claimed second from Busch by Lap 69.

Stage 2 ends on Lap 160 and the 400.5-mile race is scheduled to end on Lap 267.

Finish	Driver	Team	Race Points
1	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	—
2	Kyle Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing	9
3	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	—
4	Joey Logano	Team Penske	—
5	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	—
6	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	5
7	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	4
8	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	3
9	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	2
10	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	1

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