Harvick, Childress turnaround continues with Michigan win

BROOKLYN, Mich.

Kevin Harvick sent a message to his fellow Chase contenders on Sunday: Catch me if you can.

Harvick proved to have the dominant car at Michigan International Speedway as he earned his third win of the season, extended his point standings advantage to 293 over second-place Jeff Gordon and became the first driver to be locked into the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

“I can’t believe we’re in Michigan,” Harvick exclaimed over the radio after taking the checkered flag.

After all, he hadn’t posted a top-five on the two-mile track since 2003.

“Helluva job Harv,” team owner Richard Childress replied. “Who says you can’t win (at) Michigan?”

Yes, the victory sent a statement to the garage, but the win was a culmination of months of sacrifice and hard work as Richard Childress Racing battled to regain its footing as a dominant force in Sprint Cup.

The proof? The end of a 20-year drought for RCR at Michigan. The last time an RCR-powered car visited Victory Lane in Michigan was in June of 1990 when the late Dale Earnhardt beat Ernie Irvan to the line by 0.22-seconds.

Childress was still a bit amazed as he walked from the roof of the suites to Victory Lane.

“It’s great, it’s just great,” Childress said. “Gil (Martin, crew chief) and Harvick did a super job today. I couldn’t be happier. It seems like forever since we were able to come up here and win. We’ve had some excellent shots. But to finally put it together, I was really proud of the team. They’re really together right now.”

The No. 29 pit crew executed flawless stops throughout the day. Harvick exited pit road in the top three in the first two stops, then came out first following the third and fourth caution. And during the money stop, Harvick followed leader Tony Stewart off pit road. Although Hamlin passed Stewart five laps later and held the point for 12 circuits, Harvick’s car came to life at just the right time.

With the horsepower of the Earnhardt Childress engines — which have won three of the last four races — the No. 29 Shell Chevrolet caught Hamlin with 13 laps remaining, passed the No. 11 two laps later and extended his lead by 1.731-seconds at the finish line.

Hamlin, who finished second, believes RCR has “the best engines” in the garage right now.

“These guys are tough,” said Hamlin. “They really got everything working right now. Their cars are handling really well and they’ve got horsepower. Those are two things that are tough to beat.”

That wasn’t the case a year ago when not a single RCR car qualified for the Chase. Harvick put the growth of the organization into stark perspective

“Last year we sucked,” he said.

Gil Martin, who joined RCR as Mike Dillon’s crew chief in the Nationwide Series in 2000, says the turnaround is “a testament to how hard everybody has worked” but believes the resurrection of the company started at the top.

“The commitment that Richard has given us all as far — whether it's financial support, moral support, equipment, everything that we've got right now as far as I'm concerned, there is not a better place to be right now as far as things that are going on, as far as technology in the sport,” Martin said.

“I think we're on the cutting edge on a lot of things. Without his commitment and his drive and just being the racer that he is, I don't think we would be at the level we are right now, especially not rebounding from where we were last year to be here right now. It's a testament to how hard everybody has worked and the commitment that has been made.”

That ongoing commitment over the last year has enabled RCR to vault three teams into the top 12 with three races remaining before the Chase.

Childress told his organization at a recent luncheon, “Somebody has to beat Jimmie this year, and it might as well be RCR. You never say, we’re the team to beat. You got to have confidence, but so many factors play in. We know we're going to be a contender. That's all we can ask for is to be a contender. If we're that, we'll have a shot at winning it.”

Still, Childress says there’s no need “to be cocky” about their current success. He wants his teams to do the talking. But if RCR is able to continue this run through the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and win the 2010 title, it would be 16 years between championships — a NASCAR record.

“It’s a long, long way to go before that championship,” Childress said. “We’re just going to keep taking it one race at a time, doing every thing we can to make it work.

“But Harvick, he’s taken a leadership role. Kevin's always had his head into it good as a racer. I think he's bringing more and more to our whole organization now. He’s doing everything to make it right.”

Roush Fenway continues to heal

Roush Fenway Racing forged its way to the front pack on Sunday with its three marquee drivers finishing in the top five and David Ragan bringing his UPS Ford in 11th.

Carl Edwards caught fire at the end of the race and finished third after he was blocked in the pits by the No. 98 car on Lap 67 of 200. Edwards’s performance vaulted the No. 99 team three positions in the standings to sixth.

“We’re making a lot of ground up in points and getting stronger,” Edwards said. “We’re getting close to everyone, which is good. If we can run like this the next few races and keep competitive in the Chase it is going to be great for us.”

Early in the Carfax 400, it appeared that Greg Biffle was the class of the field — but Kevin Harvick had a different plan. Still, Biffle’s No. 16 Ford led the most laps on Sunday (66) and before a funky set of tires set him back after the Lap 155 pit stops, he had a rocketship. Biffle, who finished fourth and remained 11th in the point standings, admitted he was “pretty happy with the day.”

Matt Kenseth posted his third best qualifying effort (seventh) at the track then wheeled the No. 17 Ford to its first top-five finish since Dover in May — 11 races ago. Kenseth moved up one position to ninth in points.

“It feels good to finish up front, that’s for sure,” said Kenseth.

Testing the horses

NASCAR confiscated 16 engines for its annual dynamometer test, as FOXSports.com first reported Saturday afternoon.

Kenny Lawson, NASCAR’s engine supervisor for the Sprint Cup Series, said the sanctioning body wanted to get a sample from all nine engine builders that currently supply the garage. That included the Nos. 48, 14, 29, 42, 11, 83, 56, 47, 66, 87, 77, 12, 46, 99, 9 and 26.

“It’s that time of the year that we need to get a report card to see where everyone stacks up,” Lawson said. “With the engine dyno at the tech center we’re in a more controlled environment to collect more accurate data.

“I’m kind of excited. Everyone brings their best stuff to Michigan. But I expect the best of the best to be pretty close.”

Lawson said today’s top engines are producing 840 to 850 horsepower.

Numbers game

Michigan wasn’t kind to Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday:

• Jimmie Johnson, who competed in the top five for the first half of the race finished 12th.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. fell back early and through race attrition finished 19th.
• Jeff Gordon, who picked up a remarkable 24 positions over the first 20 laps, had his effort thwarted by a cut tire on Lap 154 that ultimately damaged the right rear tire vacuum system and led him to a disappointing 27th-place finish.
• Mark Martin tangled with Carl Edwards in the opening laps, slammed into the wall and soldiered on to finish 28th.

Say what?

Kurt Busch was running 15th when the engine blew in the No. 2 Miller Dodge:

“I was supposed to have a conservative motor, I thought,” Busch said as he exited the track after 30 laps.

Busch finished 40th and dropped to 10th in the point standings. It’s the lowest he’s been in points since he dropped out of the Chase Zone (14th) at Phoenix in April.