Harvick leads Chevy 1-2-3 in Bank Of America 500

Harvick celebrates

Mike Mercurio/AR1.com

Kevin Harvick punched his ticket to the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a win in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Harvick beat out Jeff Gordon in a green-white-checker finish to collect his third win of the season and earn an automatic berth into the eight-driver Eliminator round of the Chase.

Jamie McMurray came home third, followed by Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.

At the start of the season, NASCAR had high hopes the new elimination-style format would add a level of drama to the last few races of the championship battle.

Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, they exactly got what they wanted.

Drivers staring down elimination took wild chances on pit strategy and tempers boiled over in the garage following the race, while up front the winner was decided on a three-lap dash to the checkered flag.

Harvick led a race-high 162 laps, including 34 of the final 41, opening up a nearly five-second advantage over Gordon when the final caution flag waved with seven laps to go to get up a three-lap dash to the finish.

For Harvick, it was looking like an all-too-familiar theme – he led the most laps in the first three races of Chase, only to see the victory slip away at the end.

Not this time.

Harvick took off on the final restart and slipped in ahead of Gordon, pulling away to a half-second advantage on his way to his 26th-career Sprint Cup victory.

"Everybody on our team has just continued to build better race cars and we know that we've had the cars to run up front and lead laps and do the things that we need to do," said Harvick. "Things just haven't gone right and we've made some mistakes; things haven't gone right ore than not.

With next weekend's race at Talladega, a veritable crap-shoot where the Big One could rear its ugly head at any moment, drivers were gunning to pick up a win on Saturday at Charlotte and earn a guaranteed spot into the next round.

"We came here and tested thinking that this was going to be the hardest round to get through because of Talladega," said Harvick. "There's so much that you can't control there. We wanted to try to control the things that we could control. We felt like Kansas and here (Charlotte) were playing to our strengths; and just see where it fell after that once we get to the next round.

"I'm parking it and watching it (next week). It's going to be fun to watch. It's going to be crazy, offensive racing."

Gordon's runner-up finish was his third top-five finish in the Chase, coming two weeks after his win at Dover helped push him in to the second round.

"I'm really proud of that finish and really proud of that effort," said Gordon. Kevin (Harvick) got out there on us after that green flag stop. I knew when he got out in front it was going to be hard to beat him.

"But, how about this drama? I'm telling you, this new format has created some serious drama! I'm glad I'm not in it this time. I'm really happy about this second (place finish). It doesn't make us, by any means, comfortable going into next week, but a lot better than it could be."

Among the Chase contenders looking for a decent finish in order to keep their Championship hopes alive were Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who came into Saturday night's race dead last in the Chase standings.

Keselowski spent much of the race in the top five including leading for a total of eight laps, but contact with Matt Kenseth late in race damaged the nose of his no. 22 Ford Fusion and relegated him to a 16th-place finish.

On the cool down lap, Keselowski made contact with Denny Hamlin and Kenseth, and tempers escalated back in the garage with Hamlin having to be restrained from going after Keselowski, while Kenseth pounced on Keselowski walking between the haulers, putting the 2012 champion in a headlock.

"I had my HANS off and my seat belts off and everything, and he clobbered me at 50 (mph)," said Kenseth. "The race is over. If you want to talk about it as a man, try that, but to try and wreck someone on the race track, come down pit road with other cars and people standing around, there's no excuse for that. He's a champion, he's supposed to know better than that."

"When the last yellow came out, (Kenseth) got the wave around and he came back and swung at my car and tore the front of the car off. And we started in fifth with no front, we fell back to 16th and ruined our day," said Keselowski. "You know those guys can dish it out but they can't take. And I gave it back to them and now they want to fight. I don't know what's up with that."

Earnhardt, Jr. and his crew gambled early, making several two-tire stops to gain track position only to see the strategy backfire after the shifter broke in the no.88 Chevrolet, putting Earnhardt, Jr. a lap down where he finished 20th.

Earnhardt, Jr. is still dead last in the Chase standings 57 points behind the leader and now needing nothing less than a win at Talladega to advance to the next round.

"We need to go out there and win it," said Earnhardt, Jr. of next week's race. "We can do it; we have won there a lot of time. I know what we need to do. We will just have to build a fast car and hope that we don't have any gremlins and try to go out there and win it

Johnson struggled in the race, leading to heated conversations on the radio with crew chief Chad Knaus. Johnson managed to rebound in the last half of the race, moving into the top five, but after taking a chance on two tires late in the race, he faded to a 17th-place finish and remains 11th in the points.

Logano overcame an ill-handling race car to salvage a fourth-place finish and retained the points lead by six points over Kyle Busch. Kevin Harvick moved up three spots to third in the standings, followed by Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards.

Quotes

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – WINNER
ON THE WIN:
"Everybody on our team has just continued to build better race cars and we know that we've had the cars to run up front and lead laps and do the things that we need to do. Things just haven't gone right and we've made some mistakes; things haven't gone right ore than not. But I just want to thank Budweiser and Jimmy John's and Sprint and all the fans for everything that they do. Outback and Chevrolet and everybody on this car. This was the night that we needed to win. I don't want to go to Talladega next week."

WITH A WIN, YOU'RE GOING ON TO THE NEXT ROUND; HOW MUCH RELIEF IS THAT FOR YOU?
"Oh, we came here and tested thinking that this was going to be the hardest round to get through because of Talladega. There's so much that you can't control there. We wanted to try to control the things that we could control. We felt like Kansas and here (Charlotte) were playing to our strengths; and just see where it fell after that once we get to the next round. So I'm really proud of everybody at SHR. I'm really proud of all my guys on this team. I just can't thank everybody enough."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 2ND
ON HIS SECOND PLACE FINISH:
"I'm really proud of that finish and really proud of that effort. Kevin (Harvick) got out there on us after that green flag stop. It looked like we were going to be second. I didn't want to see another restart, because every time we start on the inside, we seem to lose positions; there at the end, and the whole race. We were just trying to tune to make it better. We got off a little bit and lost some track position. I had some terrible restarts. But there at the end, four tires and good adjustments and good restarts and we were able to get right up in the thick of it. Kevin was tough. I knew when he got out in front it was going to be hard to beat him. But, how about this drama? I'm telling you, this new format has created some serious drama! I'm glad I'm not in it this time. I'm really happy about this second (place finish). It doesn't make us, by any means, comfortable going into next week, but a lot better than it could be."

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD'S MONOPOLY CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
WHAT HAS BEEN KEY TO YOUR RESURGENCE OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS?
"Well, we've actually been good all year. I don't know that we've put the finishes together, but our McDonalds Monopoly Chevy was really good tonight. I looked up at one point and I was in second; and Kyle (Larson) was catching me in third. I give a lot of credit to all the guys in the shop and the engine department and everything that goes into getting our cars here. We struggled in practice but they did a great job of putting the right set-up in it and then adjusting all night long. It was a good night for the whole group."

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