Kevin Harvick won in overtime Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway outlasting a crash filled finale!

photo credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“Obviously it was a good night,” said the series points leader, Kevin Harvick. “Same old Daytona, cars moving around and bouncing around, and handling came into play, and you saw a lot of passing and shuffling, and then there at the end we had the big wreck and we were fortunate to be in front of it.”

Harvick started from the pole after Friday’s time trials were washed out. Showers went through the Daytona Beach area Saturday evening delaying the start of the race by 90 minutes. Harvick took the lead on lap 2 and continued to lead often for a race-high 28 laps. The real story of the evening though was how Harvick had to avoid all of the crashes as the race went 6 laps into overtime.

Over the closing laps, Harvick ran second to his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer. Just as the two were leading the rest of the field to what would have been the final lap, another accident involving Sam Hornish Jr, Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch sent the race into overtime.

“Coming to the white (flag), I thought it was going to be the 33 (driven by Clint Bowyer) first and us second, and then the caution came out and we could see the white flag,” Harvick explained. “I was content about that. I knew those guys needed a good day, and I knew you never know what’s going to happen on the last lap with people pushing and shoving from the back. But on the last restart, once the 24 (driven by Jeff Gordon) pulled out and slowed those outside two lines down, that was pretty much the end of it.”

Each man was for himself on the final restart. Bowyer went backwards and ended up crashing. Harvick then held off late race charges by Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne to win his 13th Sprint Cup Series victory and second this season at Daytona International Speedway. Harvick’s Daytona 500 winning car will sit in the Daytona 500 Experience, right outside of the historic track, until after next year’s season opening race.

“I really felt over those last 20 laps I didn’t think they could beat us nose to tail with myself and the 33 (driven by Clint Bowyer),” Harvick said. “I really thought, like I said, coming to the white, I really thought that was how we were going to finish.”

By the way, Clint Bowyer finished 17th. We’ll have to wait until after the holiday to hear what Bowyer has to say.

It was a wild night. Four major accidents occurred over the closing 23 laps of the originally scheduled 160 lap distance. A red flag was called on lap 149 for 19 minutes and 34 seconds after a huge accident that nearly wiped out the entire field.

Even after being involved in an earlier wreck on lap 118, Kasey Kahne was able to bounce back for a runner-up finish.

“We had a great run, had a fast Budweiser Ford throughout the whole race,” Kahne said. “I felt like we ran the best cars the whole night. I hit oil or had to be something on the racetrack because the car just incidentally spun, and I hit the wall, and other cars were doing it, too. So I kind of missed the wreck because of that, because we were slowed up, as well, so it actually worked out for us or I would have actually been in that wreck with (Jamie) McMurray and (David) Ragan and those guys. After that it was just try to avoid. You know, I was happy to see every wreck in my mirror and just trying to avoid some of that stuff and stay out there. But we had a good car, it was just a matter of avoiding it, and we were able to.”

Jeff Gordon had to settle for a third place finish.

“Man, I’m just happy to survive one of these restrictor plate races. It’s been a while since we’ve done that,” Gordon said. “We had a pretty good night, car drove good, especially on the long runs, and we avoided the big ones and got ourselves in a good position to win the race. Got out in front, and I felt like I had a pretty good handle. I liked being up front while those two guys were lined up; we were good, but once they split down, one and two, they kind of faded, and I didn’t know — I thought they were passing one another, and instead they lined back up and I was just a sitting duck. At that point it was just about the restart, and got a good restart, was pushing Clint, and I don’t know what happened. It just seemed like he was riding the brakes, and we weren’t going anywhere. So I went to pass him, and that kind of just messed up our momentum to really have a shot at winning, so we’re pretty happy to finish third.”

After an emotional win the night before in the Nationwide Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr backed up his win with a fourth place finish. “We were terrible all night,” he said. “We were real lucky.”

Jeff Burton finished fifth followed by Carl Edwards.

Even after being involved in several of the night’s accidents, Kurt Busch finished seventh before crashing out.

“Carl (Edwards) turned right after the start-finish line and completely destroyed our car. We’ve seen him turn right before and destroy a Penske car at Atlanta with my teammate Brad Keselowski. It’s what it is. We could have limped home in seventh and not damaged like that. That was unnecessary.”

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 9 cautions for 37 laps and 47 lead changes among 18 drivers: K. Harvick 0; J. Johnson 1; K. Harvick 2-9; J. Gordon 10; K. Harvick 11-13; G. Biffle 14; Kyle Busch 15-17; K. Harvick 18-24; E. Sadler 25-26; Kyle Busch 27; E. Sadler 28; Kurt Busch 29-30; K. Harvick 31; Kurt Busch 32-39; E. Sadler 40-41; S. Hornish Jr. 42; E. Sadler 43-48; S. Hornish Jr. 49-55; J. Montoya 56-63; J. Gordon 64-69; B. Keselowski 70; J. Gordon 71-73; J. Montoya 74; D. Hamlin 75-78; S. Hornish Jr. 79-84; Kyle Busch 85-103; J. Burton 104-105; R. Gordon 106; M. Martin 107-111; J. Montoya 112-113; J. Gordon 114; J. Burton 115-117; D. Stremme 118; S. Park 119; T. Stewart 120-125; J. Burton 126-127; T. Stewart 128; C. Bowyer 129; K. Harvick 130; C. Bowyer 131; K. Harvick 132-133; J. Burton 134-137; Kurt Busch 138-141; K. Harvick 142-145; C. Bowyer 146-156; J. Gordon 157-158; C. Bowyer 159-164; K. Harvick 165-166

18 different race leaders set a new track record, beating the previous record of 15 set twice in 1986 and 2006.

With most of the drivers in Saturday night’s field getting caught up in wrecks, it was a bad “points night” for many. 8 races remain until “The Chase for the Sprint Cup” begins. The top-12 drivers in the point standings will be the only ones locked in to compete for the championship.

(Unofficial) Standings following the Coke Zero 400:
1)  Kevin Harvick, 2684 points
2)  Jeff Gordon, -212 points behind (moves up 3 spots)
3)  Jimmie Johnson, -225 points behind (loses 1 spot)
4)  Kurt Busch, -245 points behind (moves up 2 spots)
5)  Denny Hamlin, -284 (down one spot)
6)  Kyle Busch, -308 (down three spots)
7)  Matt Kenseth, -362
8)  Jeff Burton, -365
9)  Tony Stewart, -433
10) Greg Biffle, -450
11) Dale Earnhardt Jr, -507 (moves up two spots)
12) Carl Edwards, -514

Mark Martin lost two spots in the standings after being one of the unlucky ones to get caught up in the “Big One”. Martin fell from 11th to 13th in the standings. He’s 553 points behind the leader and 39 points from 12th.

For the complete (unofficial) standings, click here (nascar.com)

Chicagoland Speedway is next on the schedule.

Have yourself a safe and happy 4th!