NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Harvick Top Gun In Shootout
Kevin Harvick scored his second straight Budweiser Shootout victory on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted February 07, 2010   Daytona Beach, FL
Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet, celebrates winning the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona Budweiser Shootout. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kevin Harvick, too ill earlier in the week to run practice laps, made everyone else sick Saturday night by showing unexpected strength in winning the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.

Results: Daytona Budweiser Shootout

Battling flu-like symptoms, Harvick sat out Shootout practices Thursday and depended on Richard Childress Racing teammates to fine-tune his Chevrolet.

They did a good job.

“I didn’t even get to sit a lap in this thing (in practice),” Harvick said. “It was a rocket.”

Harvick led 21 of the 76 laps. He was in front a lap from the finish when contact between contenders Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon caused the night’s final caution. The field was frozen at that point, presenting Harvick with his second straight win in the Shootout, the first on-track competition of the NASCAR season.

Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin completed the top five.

“This is great, especially after the kind of season we had last year at RCR,” Harvick said.

RCR’s four-car operation went winless last season.

The 75-lap race was run in 25- and 50-lap segments. Carl Edwards, who started on the pole, led all 25 laps in segment one and was challenged only briefly, by Tony Stewart.

Edwards couldn’t maintain his power in the longer second segment, however, and finished 17th.

In a season in which NASCAR has emphasized the need for improved racing, there was relatively good action at and near the front as much of the field ran in a tight pack much of the evening. Racing with slightly bigger restrictor plates on their cars, drivers seemed to have better throttle response and the ability to make bolder moves.

The tight racing cost Kurt Busch near the beginning of the second and final segment. In close traffic, Mark Martin tapped Busch’s car and sent him flying across the track and onto the apron grass. Busch’s hood flipped up and blocked his vision, and his car slid back onto the track and into the outside wall.

Stewart finished the first 25 laps in second place after executing a daring move between Kahne and McMurray. Stewart barely cleared McMurray before jumping in front of him in the outside lane.

Following Edwards, Stewart, Kahne and McMurray at the front after the first segment were Harvick, Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, Biffle, Jeff Burton and Gordon.

Results: Daytona Budweiser Shootout

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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