Daytona win helps Harvick distance self from title rivals
The fireworks display following the Coke Zero 400 couldn’t compare to Saturday night’s action at Daytona International Speedway.
But one thing was certain when the smoke cleared, Kevin Harvick is on top of the NASCAR world. Harvick’s second career Daytona Sprint Cup victory extended his points lead by 212 over his closes rival, Jeff Gordon, who finished third.
The strength of the Richard Childress Racing restrictor-plate program powered Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer to the point for 58 of the 166 laps — and away from the riff-raff in the back of the pack. Throughout Daytona’s 400-mile race of attrition, the Childress cars were solid enough to avoid being one of the 15 competitors that either ended up on a wrecker or had to be pushed to the garage.
"Kevin's just becoming one of these guys, when it's restrictor-plate racing, he's kind of like Dale Sr. -- you knew he was going to be a factor in it,'' team owner Richard Childress said.
The high praise aside, Saturday night easily could have shaved lots of points from Harvick's lead. Instead, Childress team relied on guts and a little bit of luck.
The crew chiefs for the three Childress cars elected not to go with a radical setup, a decision that paid dividends in the end as the track came to the drivers in the closing laps.
Harvick admitted that his ability to handle through the corners and the decision to take four tires late in the race was the key to victory.
“I was able to maneuver where I needed to make moves happen and handle the shoves without letting off the throttle getting in the corners," Harvick said
While the race included a record 18 lap leaders and 47 lead changes, the end resulted in a dramatic shuffle among the Chase for the Sprint Cup hopefuls. Gordon vaulted three positions over Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin — all who were involved in accidents throughout the night.
They were not alone, as other drivers fighting for a Chase spot, including Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya, also ended the evening with mangled vehicles.
On the other hand, Harvick not only outlasted his rivals but accomplished what the team came to do — collect another win to boost his bonus points for the Chase. Drivers can add 10 points for each victory to their points total at the end of 25 races — seven events from now.
“That’s all we have talked about for the last two or three weeks, what do we have to win more races before the Chase starts,” said Harvick, who is tied for the third most wins with Kyle and Kurt Busch. Johnson and Hamlin top the Series with five wins each.
“We had this conversation Friday night. We had this conversation Wednesday afternoon at the shop. It’s just something that we’ve talked about for two or three weeks, and to be able to come out and capitalize on it tonight is what we came here to do.”
A difference of opinion
Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch collided coming across the start-finish line on Lap 165 as the pair finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
For Edwards, it was his first top-10 finish since Dover. But any joy was erased by the late crash and he went to confront the driver of the blue deuce — to no avail.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened, so that’s why I went and asked,” Edwards said. “We were just coming to the start-finish line, having a good race, and the No. 2 car for some reason just turned left and hit me.
“I don’t know if he didn’t know I was there or if he did it on purpose, but it seems like he was just frustrated. We all get frustrated when we have a bad day, so I’m sure it’ll be no big deal.”
For Busch, it was a big deal.
The former Sprint Cup champion led 14 laps throughout the race and felt he had a legitimate shot at the win. Busch blamed The Carl and accused his former teammate of trying to wreck him at the finish.
“Carl turned right after the start-finish line and completely destroyed our car,” Busch said. “We’ve seen him turn right before and destroy a Penske car at Atlanta with my teammate Brad Keselowski. It’s what it is. We could have limped home in seventh and not damaged like that. That was unnecessary.”
Busch’s 11th top 10 of the season elevated the No. 2 team to fourth in the point standings. Edwards maintains 12th-place, 39 markers ahead of Mark Martin.
Numbers game
Say what?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his fourth-place finish
“We just missed a lot of wrecks and got lucky with the finish. We didn't have a car to compete tonight. I apologize to all the fans. We'll try to do a better job next week. We don't want to get lucky every time."
