Kevin Harvick thoroughly dominated Saturday’s Degree V12 Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 131 of 195 laps en route to a win.
Harvick’s only real challenge came from Dale Earnhardt Jr., who stretched a tank of fuel to the finish and held the lead up until two laps to go when Harvick, who stopped for fuel 13 laps from the finish, ran him down and motored by him. Atlanta Journal Constitution
Harvick and Kyle Busch each went into the pits for gas and four tires with 14 laps remaining. Earnhardt and Brad Keselowski stayed on the track, gambling they had enough gas to finish the race.
Earnhardt and Keselowski had enough gas, but were still passed by Harvick and Busch, who finished second. Earnhardt was third, followed by Keselowski and Jeff Burton.
Harvick led Busch by about 7 seconds and Earnhardt by about 15 seconds when Harvick and Busch made the late pit stops.
Busch’s pit stop was faster than Harvick’s, but Harvick had the advantage of the big lead before the stop.
Harvick’s advantages of fresh tires and the faster car enabled him to pass Keselowski with six laps left before catching Earnhardt with two laps left.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Degree V12 300 at Atlanta - Race Results
“I cut it a little bit closer than I would like to at the end,” Harvick said. The Associated Press
“Kyle was a little better on the short runs there, but after about eight or 10 laps, this thing was just flat-out awesome,” Harvick said of his No. 33 Chevrolet, which led 131 laps. “We cut it a little bit closer than I would have liked to there at the end. ...
“It was nice to race the No. 18 [Busch] head-to-head like that and have fun with him. I really thought everybody had to pit. Just a great night for the fans who came out to watch the race—Dale Jr. on strategy, Kyle good on short runs and us good after about 10 laps—so you had all kinds of that good Atlanta racing [Saturday].”
Earnhardt credited his crew, which included former crew chief Tony Eury Jr. in a consulting role, with a good call in the pits.
“We saved enough gas, and we finished closer to them two guys than we were on the race track,” Earnhardt said. “So I guess it was the right call. We just didn’t have enough at the end to hold them off. I tried to get going when they were coming. ... Hopefully we put on a good show for the fans out there.” NASCAR
Joey Logano was sixth, followed by Edwards, Greg Biffle, David Ragan and Reed Sorenson. Edwards drove with a broken right foot he sustained while playing Frisbee earlier this week.
“That’s a sore right foot if you don’t push the pedal very hard, so that’s good for fuel mileage,” said Edwards, whose fuel also held up at the end. “Seventh is not what we came here to do, but considering everything, that was a pretty good run.” MiamiHerald.com
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