Harvick OnLine: Top Story: Harvick Betters Johnson For All-Star Victory

Harvick Betters Johnson For The All-Star Victory

CONCORD – After what might have been a very costly speeding ticket for Matt Kenseth, a wreck between the two Busch brothers and a flat tire for Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick socked away another sack of money with a victory in the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge.

Following a mundane first 60 laps Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Daytona 500 winner Harvick held off Jimmie Johnson in the final laps to collect the more than $1 million first prize.

The scrambling started when Kenseth, who’d won the first and third 20-lap segments of the four-segment event, was popped for speeding as he left pit road before the final 20.

Kenseth said over his radio he was trying to beat Jeff Gordon’s car off pit road. “I got so busy with those other cars, I looked down and I was 200 (RPM) over,” he said.

That sent Kenseth to the back of the field and left Gordon and Jeff Burton on the front row with Kyle Busch and Harvick behind him for the start of the final segment.

Harvick and Burton both got good jumps as Gordon slipped back, and from that point on Harvick was your leader, and eventually your winner.

“She told me last week I was going to win,” Harvick said as his wife, DeLana, joined him in the victory celebration. “To win the Daytona 500 and the all-star race in the same year is pretty cool.”

Three laps into the final segment, the Busch brothers were battling door to door as they made a move for second place behind Harvick.

Kyle Busch, who’d won the second segment, dove to the inside in the trioval and as he and Kurt got into Turn 1 they made contact. Kyle’s No. 5 Chevrolet spun first, but as it came around it clipped Kurt’s No. 2 Dodge and put them both into the wall and out of the race.

“I was waiting for the day we got together,” Kurt Busch said. “We did and we were racing for $1 million bucks. It was a bummer to have my little brother pull that move on me. Maybe I should have given an inch instead of taking an inch.

“We’ll see what he has to say about it, but right now I am not eating any Kellogg’s any time soon.” Kellogg’s, of course, is Kyle’s primary sponsor. Kenseth jumped to the lead off Turn 2 in the first lap and led comfortably until the end of the 20-lap first segment. Jeff Gordon passed Jimmie Johnson for second place going into Turn 1 on the final lap of that segment, with Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounding out the top five.

Kyle Busch and Mark Martin stayed out on the yellow flag that followed the segment, with several other teams taking two tires. Johnson had to make a second pit stop on that yellow and that put him near the rear of the field for the start of segment 2.

Busch took off as the second segment started and pulled out to a big lead over Harvick. Gordon moved into second halfway through that segment, but Busch coasted home more than two seconds ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

That brought the teams to pit road for a 10-minute “halftime” break, where teams could make adjustments without losing track position. To that point in the race, that was the only thing that had really seemed to matter.

“I just hate we’re not putting on a better show,” Gordon said during the break. “We’re on the edge out there, like we’re on ice. We just can’t maneuver with these tires.”

Busch, Gordon, Harvick, Kenseth and Burton were the top five for the restart for the third segment. Busch got the jump again on the restart, but Gordon found himself sliding backward as Harvick and Kenseth went by him on either side off Turn 2.

In Turn 4 on that lap, Bobby Labonte got loose and slapped the outside wall while Gordon had to save his car as he got loose after he and Burton nearly got together.

Busch and Kenseth, the only two drivers who’d led to that point, started side-by-side when the green flew on Lap 45. Busch lost the lead immediately as Harvick went low and Kenseth high. Kenseth came away with the lead with Harvick second, Gordon third and Busch falling back into fourth.

Gordon passed Harvick for second on Lap 56, and two laps later Busch moved around Harvick to get third. That’s how they stood after 60 laps.

That set up the key decision under the revised format of the all-star event. Teams were required to come down pit road for at least a stop-and-go, knowing they’d restart in the order the cars left the pit lane.

Read the full story at thatsracin.com