Kevin Harvick wins at Las Vegas
A year after after seeing a great car at Las Vegas go for naught because of a broken hub, Kevin Harvick's fast car was aptly rewarded on Sunday.
The defending Sprint Cup Series champion controlled the last half of Sunday's race at Vegas and captured his first win of the season and his third-straight top-two finish to start the year.
The win wasn't without a bit of drama. Or reported drama, anyway. With his car visibly loose over the final laps of the race, Harvick reported back to his crew that he had a vibration. However, he moved his car to the high side and if there was a vibration, it didn't affect his performance. The interval over second-place Martin Truex Jr. stabilized over the last seven laps and Harvick was able to cruise to the win.
"I don't know but it wasn't right," Harvick said. "Luckily we were able to hang on to it and had a good enough lead to where we could pace ourselves and were able to keep the lead, I guess."
Last year, Harvick led 23 laps before he finished 30 laps down because of the hub issue. He led 142 laps on Sunday.
Truex's second was his third-straight top 10 to start the season. He's never started a Sprint Cup Series season with three consecutive finishes so high.
Jimmie Johnson, last week's winner at Atlanta, had a car to challenge Harvick but he wasn't around for the finish. Johnson was forced to pit road after he was leading in the first half of the race because of a tire issue. The green flag stop put him a lap down and as he attempted to climb through the field he had problems. He smacked the wall twice, once because of an apparent flat tire in the trival and he then hit the wall again in turn four. He finished 41st.
Jeff Gordon won the pole for the race but didn't start there after contact with Danica Patrick in the final moments of practice on Saturday. Gordon had to go to a backup car and worked his way up to the top 10 at one point after starting 41st. However, when Johnson lost the tire in the tri-oval, Gordon got into the back of Jeb Burton, damaging the nose of his car.
"I guess Jimmie blew a right front tire," Gordon said. "I was right behind Jeb getting ready to make a move on him. I wasn't sure if I was going to go inside or outside and all of the sudden he starts checking up. And I thought he was doing it to let me go by him and I didn't realize until right at that moment when my spotter said something to me that Jimmie was having a problem and I ran into the back of him. Ruined the front -- ruined our day with this 3M Chevrolet. It certainly ruined the front end. The car just wouldn't go down the straightaway and then it was real tight."
Harvick's win is his first at Las Vegas and his 29th overall.
- - - - - - -
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
