Racing at Phoenix is tight and exciting, as are the finishes. And after hard racing in the first three races of 2015, fans expected no less than a great race in the Arizona desert. And that is what they got.

The race started with Kevin Harvick on the pole, but on the opening lap Joey Logano drove around him. Right after the first lap trouble struck Brian Vickers. Brian slid up the track and hit the wall, sustaining enough damage to take him to the garage. Not long after Harvick sailed right back past Logano and claimed the lead. Harvick remained at or near the front for the rest of the day. But after a calm start to the race, some excitement came in.

The track and pit road are both rather narrow, making racing and passing extremely hard. And pit stops even trickier. Carl Edwards and was exiting his pit box when him and Jimmie Johnson bumped, leaving Johnson with some hood damage. This was the beginning of Jimmie’s trouble, because later in the race he sustained more damage that led to his being mired in the middle of the pack. Which is where he finished.

As the day progressed drivers came and went to the front, when suddenly trouble hit Nascar’s most popular driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Dale was racing to make up for a pit road penalty when suddenly he blew a tire, turning his car into the wall and ruining his day. Jr. rejoined the race later, but was dozens of laps down.

After this the race continued without any major problems, for a time. Aside from tire failures and debris cautions, nothing big happened until the final hundred or so laps. And it struck one of the best Nascar drivers ever. Tony Stewart, who had gradually worked his way through the field all day, was racing Justin Allgier for tenth place when they collided. Tony spun up the track and into the outside wall. After repairs were made to his car, Stewart returned to the track, only to slam the wall again, ending his day.

As the laps wound down it was clear Harvick had the car to beat, but there was a close second. Kurt Busch, who was returning after serving suspension, was almost as fast as Harvick. When Stewart hit the wall, it put a tough decision in front of Harvick and Busch, who are both Tony’s teammates. They had to either pit for fresh tires, or remain on the track to maintain their position. Kurt had worn out his tires chasing Kevin from second place, so he went to pit road. Harvick remained on the track. This left Busch in ninth, with fresh tires, and twenty-two laps to catch Kevin.

As the race resumed, Kurt fought desperately to move through the field to Harvick, who was already pulling away from second place Jamie McMurray. Suddenly, Danica Patrick, Kurt and Kevin’s other teammate, spun after contact with David Ragan. This brought out the caution, but Kurt had very few laps to work with. On the ensuing restart, Kevin found himself fighting desperately to hold off… Jamie McMurray? Where Jamie found the speed to equal Kevin on a restart I don’t know, but McMurray fought harder than a cornered wolf, using everything he had to try to clear Harvick. Sadly for Jamie, Kevin simply had too much strength to let Jamie pass him, and he cleared McMurray and pulled out to a one second lead. The laps slowly ticked away, and everyone watched as Busch picked his way through slower cars. But he simply didn’t have enough time to catch Kevin, and Harvick won his second race of the year, second in a row, seventh at Phoenix, his fourth in a row at Phoenix, and seventh straight top two finish.