BROOKLYN, Mich. - Kevin Harvick couldn't have capped off his father-son weekend in better fashion.
Harvick dominated Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, then put 6-year-old son Keelan in the passenger seat of the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford to help him celebrate. Keelan, who had retrieved the checkered flag after his father's victory, held it out of the window as it flapped in the wind.
"That was definitely way up there on the bucket list," Harvick said.
Keelan's dad separated himself from the Big 3 with an easy win, his series-leading seventh of the season. Harvick finished more than three seconds ahead of fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski on the two-mile track.
Another Big 3 member, season points leader Kyle Busch, was third in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota - more than four seconds behind Harvick.
"I was front of him for about five laps," joked Busch, who has won six Cup Series races this year.
The other member of the Big 3, four-time winner Martin Truex Jr., was 14th in the 40-car field Sunday in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota. Harvick's latest win pushed the leading trio's 2018 haul to 17 of 23 points races.
Keselowski said he couldn't be more aggressive late in the 200-lap race simply because Harvick was so far ahead.
Austin Dillon, in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet, was fourth, followed by Ryan Blaney in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford.
Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag for the second straight week, but his JGR No. 11 Toyota could not stay ahead. He ended up eighth at MIS after finishing 13th in last week's race at Watkins Glen International.
Harvick won each of three stages and led 108 laps, more than four times more than anyone else in the race. His seven victories have helped Ford earn 10 Cup victories, matching its total from last year and pulling within one of Toyota's total for 2018.
Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson has not finished better than 10th in his past nine races and is 14th in the standings. The seven-time Cup Series champion was running in the top 15 late in the race when a loose wheel led to an unscheduled pit stop and a 28th-place finish a week after he was 30th.
Truex was running with the leaders during the second stage before running out of gas and going into the pits, which were closed. He was also penalized for an uncontrollable tire and pushed to the back of the field.
Soon after a restart early in the race, rookie William Byron's No. 24 Chevrolet got loose and made side-by-side contact with Truex to bring out another caution flag.
"Anything that could have went wrong did," Truex said. "We got wrecked by a rookie mistake underneath us and then ran out of gas. We could've won the second stage. We just didn't have enough gas. The car was fast. We just couldn't catch a break all day."
Keselowski, who is from suburban Detroit, is still desperately seeking his first win in Michigan. The Team Penske driver finished second in a Cup Series race at MIS for the second time. He also has a trio of third-place finishes in 19 career starts at the track.
"The last three weeks we've had some big struggles," Keselowski said. "It's nice to be able to have a mostly clean race and get the finish we deserve.
"We want to break through and win (here). We're not where we need to be."
The series heads now to Tennessee for Saturday's Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"We're three weeks away from the playoffs," Harvick said. "You don't want to shut it off."