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Steady Harvick avoids new moon fever for win
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In the first 160 laps of the Daytona 500, we only had three cautions. Then, the sun went down, the moon came up, and the crew chiefs and spotters said, "Hey, guys. Twenty-five laps to go in the Daytona 500." Business picked up with three cautions in the final 40 laps.
When Matt Kenseth got behind Kevin Harvick going down the back straightaway on the final lap, it looked like they were running 20 mph faster than the inside group. Kyle Busch and the No. 5 car tried to put a block on Kevin Harvick, but it was way too late. As the high line started going, Mark Martin lost his pusher, Kyle Busch, who got sideways.
If the start/finish line had been at the entrance to pit road, we would be talking about Mark Martin's first Daytona 500 win. But now we're talking about Kevin Harvick, and unfortunately we're talking about a lot of torn-up race cars.
| Speed Mail Larry McReynolds |
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Harvick won the Busch race on Saturday so Richard Childress had a great weekend. Last year, Jeff Burton sat on the pole in the No. 31 car, but when they dropped the green flag, he went straight backwards. The Richard Childress Racing teams had been qualifying well, but they had not been racing well so RCR changed its engine combination. Childress told me, "We won't run a fast lap, but we'll race much better than we qualify." Obviously, that's happened.
Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch looked like they were the cars to beat, not just today but over the entire Speedweeks. Of course, Stewart won the Budweiser Shootout and his Duel 150. Busch finished third in the Budweiser Shootout, and it looked like he would break Chevrolet's stranglehold on the Daytona 500. But you've got to run 500 miles to do it, and he wasn't around at the end as Chevy won its fifth consecutive Great American Race.
FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.
"How to Become a Winning Crew Chief" is on bookstore shelves, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.
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