CONCORD, N.C. – Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick smoked the competition and won the Pennzoil Victory Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway to kick off all-star festivities Saturday night.
Harvick scored 58 points from a celebrity panel of judges to beat Richard Petty Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne.
The burnout competition pitted several top NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers against each other, with each driver getting 30 seconds to impress a celebrity panel.
The panelists this year were actor Kevin Costner, 16-time world heavyweight wrestling champion Ric Flair, NFL All-Pro wide receiver Randy Moss, Speed TV analyst Jimmy Spencer and country music group Montgomery Gentry’s Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry.
The drivers used cars from the Jeff Gordon Driving School.
Harvick stopped his car on the frontstretch and spun his tires, waving to the crowd as fans cheered. He then drove to victory lane – but that was for a prearranged photo opportunity.
“It’s fun for the fans to just go out there and tear something up,” Harvick said.
Kahne scored 53 points, with Harvick’s teammate, Clint Bowyer, third with 51 points. Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon was fourth with 50 points, with Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle fifth with 48 points.
Fox analyst Darrell Waltrip was disqualified for spinning his car into the grass, while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch was also disqualified for hitting the frontstretch wall, as well as a couple of plastic pylons.
“I might get a bill from Jeff, but no worse for wear,” Busch said of the damage to the racing school car.