Written by: Jen Preston
After struggling with his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for most of the race, Kevin Harvick got back on the lead lap on lap 251, and after a two tire change on lap 371 putting him tenth he made a charge to the front that saw him charge to the lead and enter Victory Lane for the second week in a row in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500.
“I didn’t think we had the car to do that,” Harvick said afterwards. “We put two tires on there and all of a sudden I got to the front and everything was woke up.
“We’re in it to win it.”
Harvick began his charge with 112 to go, making his way through the top ten. He entered the top five after passing AJ Allmendinger on lap 411. A caution for Regan Smith with 35 laps to go and a pit road speeding penalty for Jimmie Johnson set Harvick up on the outside of leader Kyle Busch. When the green flag dropped the No. 29 was trapped to the outside and dropped back to fifth.
While Dale Earnhardt, Jr. bumped Busch out of the lead, Harvick once again played catch up. He overtook Busch for second with 14 laps to go and hunted down the leader, putting a bumper to the No. 88 and taking the top spot with three laps to go.
“Man, I’m going to be the bad guy here,” Harvick recounted of taking the lead from Earnhardt, Jr. “But I gotta do what I gotta do.”
It was Harvick’s second dramatic win in a row, and saw him jump up four spots in points to fifth. Since finishing 42nd in Daytona, Harvick has climbed 32 total spots in the championship standings.
With his second place finsih Earnhardt, Jr. collected his first top five of the season, but stretched his current winless streak to 99 races.
“The No. 29 was coming and there wasn’t much I could do,” a dejected Earnhardt, Jr. said.
Third place finisher Kyle Busch, who led 151 laps, and took the points lead six races into the season. Busch, who also led much of the Camping World Truck Series race the day before, was less than thrilled with his fourth top five of 2011.
“(We just) can’t seem to find speed at Martinsville when it matters most.”
Juan Pablo Montoya ended his solid day in fourth with seven time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon rounding out the top five. Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin finished out the top ten.
The two drivers who had won the previous nine races in Martinsville both came home with disappointing finishers. Jimmie Johnson was penalized for speeding on pit road with 35 laps to go and finished 11th, while Hamlin was trapped a lap down late in the race, but took the wave around to finish 12th.
Johnson, who vehemently denied that he was speeding, tweeted after the race “if NASCAR wanted to eliminate speeding controversy, they would post the times for the world to see.”
Speaking of struggles, Tony Stewart’s continued in Martinsville. Stewart had his worst finish of 2011 of 34th, finishing 38 laps down. He fell five spots in points to 11th, and hasn’t finished in the top ten since a second place result in Las Vegas three weeks ago. His teammate Ryan Newman’s four race streak of top ten finishes came to an end Sunday with his 20th place result that sent him four spots back in points to sixth.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaves Martinsville and heads for the first Saturday night race of the year at the Texas Motor Speedway. Coverage of the Samsung Mobile 500 begins at 7:30 pm ET on FOX.
Thanks to NASCAR on FOX, NASCAR.com, Racing Reference, ESPN, SI.com, SB Nation and Hampton Roads for the statistics, quotes and information used in this piece.
photo:nascar.com
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