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" There were scenarios where he could advance without winning, but realistically, this was a must-win race for Kevin Harvick. Fortunately for the reigning champion and presumptive favorite to repeat, he and his Stewart-Haas Racing team had no real issue rising up to the challenge. Harvick dominated on the day, and he ended up leading 355 of 400 possible laps at what has traditionally not been a strong track for both he and his team. Joe Gibbs Racing&amp;#039;s Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth put up a fight, but neither could keep contact with the regular season points leader for more than a few laps at a time. After taking risks they didn&amp;#039;t need to in the past two weeks and being bit for it, Harvick&amp;#039;s #4 team showed they learned their lesson by running an efficient, dominant race that didn&amp;#039;t require any sorts of risk at all. Unfortunately for those eliminated by today&amp;#039;s first of three Chase cutoffs, the Dover International Speedway wasn&amp;#039;t so kind to everyone. Solidly eliminated Clint Bowyer was all-but eliminated going into the race\u00A0and\u00A0Paul Menard has been stunningly mediocre since the Chase began, but Jamie McMurray could well have gotten into the next round with just one more point, or just two less from Jeff Gordon. He finished fourth today, and if Dale Earnhardt Jr. hadn&amp;#039;t recovered from multiple loose wheels to finish third, the Ganassi driver would still be in position to contend for a title. As bad as things were for McMurray, who put on his best race of the year only to be left out in the cold anyway, things were even worse for six time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who came to his best track on his 500th career start ready to comfortably glide into the next round, only to catastrophically fall out of the top 40. He had finished sixth and eleventh in the year&amp;#039;s two previous Chase races, but all of that good will was wiped from the record books when he lost 30 laps to a rear axle seal issue that left him in the garage for long enough to immediately end his season. Even with the early elimination, however, he&amp;#039;ll still be an early favorite to win a title in 2016. All those eliminations leave just twelve drivers left, all of which will be even on points going into Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega: Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. Eight will make it to the next round, and with Kansas and Charlotte as straightforward as big-time stock car races get, most of those eliminations will likely be decided in the wild pack race at Talladega. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a26921/kevin-harvick-wins-must-win-advances-to-round-2-of-nascars-chase/>