HAMPTON, Ga. — Kevin Harvick was faster than everyone at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Too fast, it turned out.

Brad Keselowski celebrates after his NASCAR Cup series victory Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Keselowski took the lead from Kyle Larson with six laps remaining, after Kevin Harvick was penalized for speeding. Associated Press/John Amis

Brad Keselowski overcame a mistake by his crew – which didn't properly fasten lug nuts during a pit stop – to earn his 22nd career NASCAR Cup Series victory, and his first win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Kevin Harvick ruined a dominating performance by speeding on his final pit stop, allowing Brad Keselowski to steal a NASCAR Cup victory Sunday.

“I’m just snake-bit here,” Harvick said. “But it’s my own doing.”

Harvick won the first two stages under NASCAR’s new race format and led a staggering 293 out of 325 laps. But, after a late yellow came out when Austin Dillon lost power, Harvick eclipsed the 45 mph speed limit going into the pits.

“I thought I was being conservative,” Harvick said. “I guess I wasn’t. I was just pushing it too hard.”

The ensuing drive-thru penalty pushed Kyle Larson into the lead, but he couldn’t hold off Keselowski, who surged ahead on the backstretch with six laps to go and cruised to a 0.564-second victory.

Keselowski, who had his own misfortune at Atlanta in 2013 that cost him a shot at making the Chase, wasn’t about to turn down Harvick’s gift.

“We’ve had races where we led a bunch of laps and things just fall apart at the end,” Keselowski said. “That’s just how this sport works. You take advantage of the opportunities when they come. We certainly caught an opportunity.”

Harvick seemed poised to win at the 1.54-mile trioval for the first time since his initial Cup victory in 2001, just three races after he got his chance following the death of Dale Earnhardt.

Instead, it was another bitter disappointment.

Harvick also led more laps than anyone each of the previous three years – a total of 442 – but was never ahead when it mattered.

This mistake cost Stewart-Haas its second straight victory to start the season after Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500.

“I didn’t think I was pushing it,” Harvick told his crew over the radio. “I’m so sorry, guys.”

He clearly had the fastest car all weekend. After starting from the pole, he took the first 85-lap stage by more than 2.5 seconds and was ahead by a staggering 5.4 seconds at the end of the second stage – turning the new format into a total snoozer.

“Would we have caught the 4?” asked Roger Penske, Keselowski’s car owner. “Probably not.”

The speeding penalty – an issue that plagued a bunch of drivers, including two-time defending race winner Jimmie Johnson – knocked Harvick to the end of the lead pack with 11 laps remaining.

He didn’t have enough laps to make up for the mistake, forcing him to settle for a ninth-place showing that should’ve been so much better.

“I had a great car under me,” Harvick said.

He made only one other mistake all day, spinning his tires coming out of the pits after Gray Gaulding blew an engine 62 laps from the end. Keselowski grabbed the lead, only to get word that his crew had not properly attached some of the tire lug nuts during his own pit stop. He had to come back in for a second stop, knocking him from the lead to 14th place on the restart.

Penske wondered if that pit stop was on Harvick’s mind when he came back in the final time.

“I think he might’ve been on a little bit of an edge,” Penske said. “He pushed it more than he should.”

Keselowski had time to recover from his crew’s mistake, reassuring them over the radio and working his way back toward the front.

“Kevin was very, very strong,” Keselowski said after his 22nd career Cup victory. “But we persevered.”

Johnson was trying to become the first driver to win the Atlanta race three years in a row, but he had two speeding penalties on pit road and wound up a lap down in 18th place.

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