NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick.
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Kevin Harvick comes off Turn 4 and down the front stretch on his way to the checkered flag in the Coke Zero 400. Below, "the big one," a reference to the big crash in a restrictor-plate race, collects 19 cars on lap 149, forcing NSCAR to red flag (stop) the race for 19 minutes and 34 seconds.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Kevin Harvick won the Coke Zero 500 in a crash-marred race with nine cautions, including the "big one" on the second-to-last caution.
Casey Kahne finished second, followed by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton rounding out the Top 5.
NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick.
Kevin Harvick celebrates his Coke Zero 400 win in the grass near Victory Lane.
"This has been a great place for us," said Harvick, who picked up his fifth win at the "World Center of Racing" and became the eighth driver to win the race from the pole.
Kahne was hoping for victory, but had to settle for second.
"I got behind Harvick and I thought that would be the spot," said Kahne, who posted his best finish ever on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. "I was watching Jeff (Gordon) because I knew he would be coming and would be quick. It would have been nice to get our Budweiser Ford in Victory Lane."
With a third-place finish, Gordon, a three-time Daytona 500 champion, moved to second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, 212 points behind Harvick.
"It's been a while since we've finished one of these races," Gordon said. "I got some good runs there at the end and I was trying to push Clint Bowyer. I don't know if he was riding the brakes or what was going on with him. Finally I said, 'We've got to go; you're killing me'. I got a run around him and got up to Kasey and was trying to get him to Kevin. It was a great top-three finish for us."
The race was won under the overtime green-white-checkered flag finish after the ninth caution.
The track, which had a patch repair done Friday morning held up as did the threat of rain that delayed the start by two hours, but did not return during the race. But more than a third of the cars did not make it to the finish.
Mark Martin's Chevrolet caught fire on lap 149 when several cars came together to cause the biggest wreck of the night. Martin was pleased the flames remained on the outside of his mangled race car.
Reigning four-time Sprint Cup Champion, Jimmie who led the first lap, but was knocked out in that spectacular crash, said, "We knew it was coming. You could feel it building."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished a surprising fourth, despite lagging behind most of the front runners, said, "We got really lucky tonight.You'd rather be lucky than good."
Still, the loudest cheers among the estimated 115 fans who filled the main grandstands and the infield, were for Earnhardt Jr., who won the earlier Nationwide series race with his late father, Dale Earnhardt's No. 3, emblazoned on the Chevrolet.
A patch job on the track earlier this week held up for the big race and was not a factor like the giant pothole that caused delays during February's Daytona 500. The track will be repaved, beginning Monday and is expected to be completed in early January.
Race News and Notes, courtesy of NASCAR:
* Kevin Harvick in the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet outdueled Kasey Kahne to the line by .092 seconds to capture a the green-white-checkered finish in Saturday night's 52nd annual Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
* Rain delayed the start of the mid-summer classic and a red flag delayed the finish for 19:34 due to a 19-car incident in Turn 3. Gordon kept his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet in the top 10 for most of the race and made his move with five laps to go. He took the lead from Bowyer with ease, but Bowyer and Richard Childress Racing teammate Harvick fought back. With the white flag in their sights, a three-car wreck behind the leaders brought out the caution and set up a green-white-yellow finish.
* On the restart, Harvick took the lead with Gordon, Bowyer and Kahne scrambling behind him. Bowyer spun on the backstretch, but there was no caution. Just after taking the checkered flag, the seventh- and ninth- place cars of Kurt Busch and Mike Bliss got together bringing out the caution as the remaining drivers of the 43-car field finished the race.
* A race record 18 drivers exchanged the lead 47 times, besting the previous record of 15 drivers in 2006 and coming up just shy of the long-standing record for lead changes of 49 dating back to 1974.
* Race-winner Harvick led eight times for a race-high 28 of the 166 laps. Reigning Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray had to retire the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet after being caught up in the fifth caution of the day and finished 38th.
* Bobby Labonte, making his 600th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 09 car, served as Grand Marshal and finished 16th.