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Sprint Cup
CUP: Harvick Wins In Overtime At Talladega
Kevin Harvick was the winner of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway...
Kevin Harvick celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Nobody wanted to lead. Everybody wanted to lead.
LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Aaron's 499 - TALLADEGA
In the end, Kevin Harvick, who hadn’t won a Sprint Cup race in seemingly forever, did.
With drivers racing through three green-white-checkered situations for the first time, Harvick nudged past Jamie McMurray in the final mile to win Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
McMurray led Harvick in a tight drafting pairing approaching the checkered flag. Harvick waited until virtually the last moment to make his move, pushing into the rear of McMurray’s car in the trioval and loosening its rear end. That opened the door for Harvick to move alongside McMurray, and he beat him to the finish line by about one-third of a car length.
“Everything just played out perfect for us today,” Harvick said. “We broke that drought.”
Harvick, who stayed near the back of the pack for most of the race before drafting forward with McMurray with about 50 laps to go, had not won a Sprint Cup point race since finishing first in the 2007 Daytona 500, 115 races ago.
McMurray, who was a sitting duck in first place near the finish, wound up second, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin.
McMurray said he thought Harvick would try to pass on the outside in the trioval, so he protected that area.
“When he went left, it really loosened the car up,” McMurray said. “When there’s somebody directly behind you and they pull their car out really fast, it feels like you opened a parachute behind the car, and you lose 3 to 5 miles per hour immediately. Once he got underneath me, all I was doing was side-drafting and hoping I could stall him some.”
Wreck after wreck after wreck delayed the race’s finish, extending the length of the event 12 laps to 200. The field made two attempts to finish the race under the green-white-checkered, but crashes on the first green-flag lap ended both those attempts.
McMurray held the lead on the third and – by NASCAR rules – last green-white-checkered attempt, and Harvick drafted along on his bumper waiting for his chance to pass.
He took it at almost the final moment and made it work in spectacular fashion, ending a day of often frantic racing with a tense side-by-side finish.
“You saw people trying that move in practice,” Harvick said. “I had to wait till the trioval. I could see we were way in front of all the guys behind us. When he [McMurray] made that dart to the right I immediately went to the left.”
The race’s second green-white-checkered attempt was foiled quickly as Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle made contact and spun near the front of the pack, prompting a caution.
On the first green-white-checkered attempt of the afternoon, McMurray was sprinting toward the white flag when contact between Ryan Newman and Joey Logano sparked a nine-car wreck at the back of the pack. That produced the second green-white-checkered.
A caution bunched the field for the final regulation run to the checkered flag. The yellow flag appeared when Jeff Burton, who had one of the day’s strongest cars, was trapped in traffic, tapped by Mike Bliss and sent on a wild ride. Burton slid across the track and was hit by Jeff Gordon. Scott Speed also was involved in the wreck.
As drivers tried to position themselves for the final laps of the race, a couple of NASCAR records fell by the wayside.
When David Ragan took the race lead on lap 143, it was the 76th lead change of the day, setting a Sprint Cup all-time record. The race finished with 88 lead changes.
Five laps later, Juan Pablo Montoya took the lead, becoming the race’s 29th different leader, also a series record.
Harvick’s win ended a frustrating winless string for Richard Childress Racing, which last visited victory lane in a points race in Oct. 2008.
LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Aaron's 499 - TALLADEGA
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.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Grand Opening is set for May 11, 2010. Outdoor Opening Ceremonies are May 11th from 9 to 10 am ET free of charge, open to the public. Outdoor festivities including driver appearances and concerts May 11th from 10 am until 8 pm ET open to the public, free of charge. Tickets to enter the NASCAR Hall of Fame are on sale now at www.NASCARHall.com or by calling 877-231-2010. The countdown to the NASCAR Hall of Fame is on! Visit www.NASCARHall.com/50days for daily updates about the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Aaron's 499 - TALLADEGA
In the end, Kevin Harvick, who hadn’t won a Sprint Cup race in seemingly forever, did.
With drivers racing through three green-white-checkered situations for the first time, Harvick nudged past Jamie McMurray in the final mile to win Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
McMurray led Harvick in a tight drafting pairing approaching the checkered flag. Harvick waited until virtually the last moment to make his move, pushing into the rear of McMurray’s car in the trioval and loosening its rear end. That opened the door for Harvick to move alongside McMurray, and he beat him to the finish line by about one-third of a car length.
“Everything just played out perfect for us today,” Harvick said. “We broke that drought.”
Harvick, who stayed near the back of the pack for most of the race before drafting forward with McMurray with about 50 laps to go, had not won a Sprint Cup point race since finishing first in the 2007 Daytona 500, 115 races ago.
McMurray, who was a sitting duck in first place near the finish, wound up second, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin.
McMurray said he thought Harvick would try to pass on the outside in the trioval, so he protected that area.
“When he went left, it really loosened the car up,” McMurray said. “When there’s somebody directly behind you and they pull their car out really fast, it feels like you opened a parachute behind the car, and you lose 3 to 5 miles per hour immediately. Once he got underneath me, all I was doing was side-drafting and hoping I could stall him some.”
Wreck after wreck after wreck delayed the race’s finish, extending the length of the event 12 laps to 200. The field made two attempts to finish the race under the green-white-checkered, but crashes on the first green-flag lap ended both those attempts.
McMurray held the lead on the third and – by NASCAR rules – last green-white-checkered attempt, and Harvick drafted along on his bumper waiting for his chance to pass.
He took it at almost the final moment and made it work in spectacular fashion, ending a day of often frantic racing with a tense side-by-side finish.
“You saw people trying that move in practice,” Harvick said. “I had to wait till the trioval. I could see we were way in front of all the guys behind us. When he [McMurray] made that dart to the right I immediately went to the left.”
The race’s second green-white-checkered attempt was foiled quickly as Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle made contact and spun near the front of the pack, prompting a caution.
On the first green-white-checkered attempt of the afternoon, McMurray was sprinting toward the white flag when contact between Ryan Newman and Joey Logano sparked a nine-car wreck at the back of the pack. That produced the second green-white-checkered.
A caution bunched the field for the final regulation run to the checkered flag. The yellow flag appeared when Jeff Burton, who had one of the day’s strongest cars, was trapped in traffic, tapped by Mike Bliss and sent on a wild ride. Burton slid across the track and was hit by Jeff Gordon. Scott Speed also was involved in the wreck.
As drivers tried to position themselves for the final laps of the race, a couple of NASCAR records fell by the wayside.
When David Ragan took the race lead on lap 143, it was the 76th lead change of the day, setting a Sprint Cup all-time record. The race finished with 88 lead changes.
Five laps later, Juan Pablo Montoya took the lead, becoming the race’s 29th different leader, also a series record.
Harvick’s win ended a frustrating winless string for Richard Childress Racing, which last visited victory lane in a points race in Oct. 2008.
LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: Aaron's 499 - TALLADEGA
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.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Grand Opening is set for May 11, 2010. Outdoor Opening Ceremonies are May 11th from 9 to 10 am ET free of charge, open to the public. Outdoor festivities including driver appearances and concerts May 11th from 10 am until 8 pm ET open to the public, free of charge. Tickets to enter the NASCAR Hall of Fame are on sale now at www.NASCARHall.com or by calling 877-231-2010. The countdown to the NASCAR Hall of Fame is on! Visit www.NASCARHall.com/50days for daily updates about the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
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