Harvick more than happy with first Michigan win

Kevin Harvick keeps proving that his season of resurgence is no fluke.

Harvick, who had a strong car all race long used some late-race muscle to pass Denny Hamlin coming to 10 laps to go then pull away to win the Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

A caution on lap 167 set up a final round of pit stops and Harvick, along with leader Tony Stewart elected to stay out. When the green flag waved with 23 to go, Hamlin got by Harvick.10 laps later Hamlin had the lead.

Harvick would pursue Hamlin until finally passing him on the outside – a line he used to his advantage all day long.

“The top is what made it happen for us today,” Harvick said.

The driver nicknamed “Happy” hadn’t had much to smile about on non-restrictor plate tracks coming into this weekend. Prior to Michigan’s win, Harvick hadn’t won on a track other than Daytona and Talladega since his 2006 victory at Phoenix.

“This had been a very bad track for us,” Harvick said of Michigan. “It says a lot about where we are at RCR as a team and what we can do the last 10 races of the season.”

With his first-ever victory at Michigan, Harvick gave Richard Childress his first win at the track since 1990 with Dale Earnhardt and extended his point lead to 293 points over Jeff Gordon. He also secured a place in the Chase.

“It’s been a great year for us,” Harvick said. “To win the Shootout and then three more races and one at a downforce track is big. At the end of the year we’ve got to make it happen the last 10 weeks and that’s what we’re trying to prepare ourselves for.”

Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.

In his first race back to the track since his July 28 plane crash, Jack Roush witnessed three of his cars finish in the top 10 and his fourth driver, David Ragan, came home 11th.

It was the same old story for Jeff Gordon who was consistently the fastest car lap after lap during the middle portion of the race. The No. 24 car started 36th but quickly made his way through the field to as high as third place.

But two laps after a restart on lap 152, Gordon cut a tire and could never recover as further tire problems relegated him to 27th at the finish.

The battle for 12th place in the standings took a turn as Mark Martin, who came into the weekend 10 points ahead of Clint Bowyer sustained damage early on and limped to a 28th-place finish.

Bowyer came home 13th and now has a 35-point edge on Martin with just three races remaining until the Chase begins at New Hampshire.

Temperatures in Brooklyn, MI reached into the high 80s during the day but tempers flared a little higher after the race.

Joey Logano got loose and caught Ryan Newman’s left rear bumper, spinning Newman with 53 laps remaining and after the race, the two exchanged words in the garage area about the incident.

Newman shoved Logano and afterward Logano questioned why Newman was racing him so hard with just over a fourth of the race remaining. Logano finished 10th while Newman soldiered home 23rd.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chase chances are all but finished. Earnhardt came home 19th and he and his team haven’t shown any ability to put together runs that would get them back into contention. Asked about his situation after the event, Earnhardt was none too happy.

“I don’t give a (expletive)…I’m going home.” Earnhardt said.