Kevin Harvick ran two very impressive practice sessions in preparation for the Sprint Unlimited this evening. He was the fastest in the first session and backed up that speed with a fourth quickest time in the final practice for the race to put his average at 2.5 for the weekend. Greg Biffle was third quickest in both practice sessions to put his average right on the dot at third. 0.5 was exactly how close Harvick was to wrecking on the final lap of the Sprint Unlimited.
Harvick blocked a charging Greg Biffle in the waning seconds of the Sprint Unlimited heading into turn-3 and it was Harvick who held off Biffle for his third Sprint Unlimited victory, tying him with Tony Stewart and 3-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Jarrett. Only one more driver has more Unlimited wins and that is the late Dale Earnhardt, who had six.
Joey Logano came in third place followed by Stewart, and Matt Kenseth. Kenseth seemed to have the most dominant car of the night, but got shuffled back late and couldn’t make it back up to the front to challenge Harvick.
That wasn’t the only wreck avoided tonight for Harvick. On Lap 15, it was an actual wreck. Tony Stewart saw a chance on Lap 15 to dive to the inside to take the lead position away from Matt Kenseth, but came right across the nose of the No.9 of Marcos Ambrose. Ambrose ended up okay, but a chain reaction crash behind them began to progress. Drivers let off the gas ever so slightly as if they were afraid Ambrose or Stewart would come back up the race track. Denny Hamlin plowed into the side of Jimmie Johnson. He spun around and collected his teammate Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, and Kurt Busch. Martin Truex Jr. received some cosmetic damage, but he was able to continue.
Tony Stewart will not be a very popular guy after the race. He also later made contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.’s damage disrupted the aerodynamic flow in his race car and could really never get back up to help Kasey Kahne.
Stewart won the first segment of the race, while Kevin Harvick led the final two to take home the win.
The race was known as the Bud Shootout before and Harvick won the event in 2009, 2010, and now 2013. So, it would be Harvick’s third victory in the Sprint Unlimited.
If the Daytona 500 became the Florida 500, Jeff Gordon would not have 0 wins, he would still have 3.
This was the First Sprint Unlimited Race, how could this be Harvicks Third Win in it?