Kevin Harvick forced to swallow second when he can't catch Hamlin
Kevin Harvick had one of the fastest cars all race long, but when it came to the final 10-lap segment of Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the defending series champion could not get around Denny Hamlin for the race win.
Instead, Harvick was forced to swallow a second-place finish in an event in which the winning driver is the only one that really matters.
Still, the former All-Star Race winner was pleased with the team’s ability to overcome a mistake in qualifying, work on the car throughout the night and get it right in the end.
"I'm not frustrated," Harvick said. "The recovery from starting last and having a chance to win the race today, that was a recovery day, a day that goes smooth hopefully you can win the race."
Starting from the rear of the field after sliding through his pit stall in qualifying, Harvick wasted no time moving his way to the front. By the end of the first segment, the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was up to 10th.
Harvick continued moving forward and ended the fourth segment in second behind SHR teammate Kurt Busch. Entering pit road for the mandatory four-tire spot in the fourth spot, Harvick restarted the final segment third.
Getting a strong run on the initial restart, Harvick stalked Hamlin for the race lead over the final 10 laps, but could not make a move once the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota moved up a lane and took Harvick’s line away.
"I was in a pretty good spot," Harvick said of running behind Hamlin in the final laps. "He just made a pretty good move down there. I committed to the center of the corner. He made a good move to slide up in the middle of the corner and got my car really tight. My strategy was to keep moving up the racetrack. But as it all worked out, I just got too far behind with a mistake right there."
Harvick’s efforts were not in vain, however, as the team was able to gather valuable information for next Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, also at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Prior to the final stop of the night, crew chief Rodney Childers told his driver over the radio, "No matter what happens the rest of the night, I can’t wait to run 600 miles."
His driver agreed.
"I feel like we're competitive every week," Harvick said looking ahead to next week’s race. "As you saw tonight, we were able to make it up into the top 10. Then they made some great adjustments on the car and we were able to drive through the top five cars and pass them.
"That's an accomplishment, you know, where we're at with the cars, how you have to race them, the things that are happening. If you can pass, that's a huge advantage, something I feel like they did a really good job with our car tonight in making it drivable."
