DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kevin Harvick passed Clint Bowyer on a green-white-checkered restart to win a wild and woolly Coke Zero 400 Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
It was the Richard Childress Racing driver’s second win of the season, and solidified his hold on the points lead in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. He exited the 2.5-mile track leading Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports) by 212 points.
Kasey Kahne (Richard Petty Motorsports), Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Hendrick) and Jeff Burton (RCR) completed the top five in a race that went six laps past its originally-scheduled 160-lap distance.
“Really, coming to the white [flag], I thought it was going to be the 33 [of teammate Clint Bowyer] first and us second,” Harvick said, “and the caution came out. I was content with that. I knew those guys needed a good day. You never know what’s going to happen on the last lap with all people pushing and shoving from the back.
“But on the last restart, once the 24 [of Gordon] pulled out and slowed those outside two lines down, that was pretty much the end of it.”
A race that began approximately 90 minutes late on Saturday night due to a rain delay stretched well into Sunday morning when numerous late-race incidents slowed the action on the track.
The biggest of those unfolded on lap 148 when Burton and Kurt Busch, running in the top five, made contact, sending the RCR driver bouncing off of Sam Hornish Jr. The bulk of the field trailing the three scrambled to avoid the incident, but wound up only creating more mayhem. When the car count was complete, 19 cars were judged to have been involved, including defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.
The race was red-flagged for nearly 20 minutes to allow officials to clear the debris. Bowyer opted not to pit when the red flag was lifted, keeping the lead, although most of those behind him came in for fresh tires and fuel.
That set up what appeared to be an eight-lap dash to the checkered flag, with Bowyer leading three laps before Gordon flew past the race leader to grab the point.
Bowyer quickly returned the favor and had the white flag, and victory, within his sight when the night’s ninth and final caution appeared.
That set up the season’s seventh race, out of 18 run, to end under a green-white-checkered finish. It also set up the end of Bowyer’s hopes for career win No. 3 and opened the door for Harvick.
Harvick was able to quickly move to the front, thanks to a push from Kahne, when racing resumed, while Bowyer cut a tire, spun, and limped home 17th.
“I was just going as hard as I could there at the end,” Kahne said. “I don’t remember really how it went. But I was just pushing the 29 [of Harvick]. That was my only choice. I just did that, and I never had a chance to pass the 29, so I just kept pushing.”
Harvick led eight times for 28 laps, tops for the race. Kyle Busch, sidelined when he crashed on lap 104 while leading, was out front for 23 circuits.
“I think the only car that didn’t have [fresh] tires tonight was the 33 [of Bowyer],” Harvick said. “Some of them had two, and four tires is the way to go. So you have a mixture of that stuff. So you have cars that are able to take pushes a little bit better and be able to keep the throttle down wide open getting into the corners.
“At that point you’re hoping for a good push or something to happen so if you’re fourth or fifth you can break through to get in the mix coming to the white flag.”
Just how competitive was the race? While the 47 lead changes wasn’t a race record, the lead did change hands five times in the final 21 laps and featured three different leaders in the last nine laps.
The 18 different leaders set a race record.