Harvick wins Phoenix over Jeff Gordon to advance

Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick turned in a dominating performance in Sunday's Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway to secure a chance to race for his first Sprint Cup title in next weekend's season finale Championship Round in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

In a race he needed to win to keep his championship hopes alive, Harvick led 264 laps including the final 187 circuits to take home his fourth win of the season in the final race of the "Eliminator Round" and punch his ticket for next weekend's winner-take-all finale, where the top finisher among the four remaining Chase contenders will be crowned the 2014 champion.

Joining Harvick advancing to the final round were Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano as well as Ryan Newman, who secured the final spot in the four-man field with a last-lap, last-turn pass to knock second-place finisher Jeff Gordon out of the championship hunt.

Matt Kenseth finished third in the race but ended the day sixth in points and was eliminated along with fourth-place finisher Brad Keselowski. Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Harvick, who came into Sunday's race dead last among the eight Chase contenders, ran a flawless race knowing he needed to win in order to advance. It helped that the race was at Phoenix, where he'd won three of the last four Sprint Cup races.

Now, make that three in a row.

"I guess that is what it feels like to hit a walk off (home run) in extra innings there," said Harvick. "I could tell that we were probably going to have to win because everybody was running up in the front of the pack that we were racing against. They put our backs against the wall; we put it in Victory Lane and get to go on."

Sunday's win capped a remarkable turnaround for Harvick, who fell to the bottom of the standings after a disastrous 33rd-place finish two weeks ago at Martinsville.

Harvick rallied back with a runner-up finish last Sunday at Texas, but was still on the outside looking in – six points out of fourth place.

And even with a second-place showing on Sunday, Harvick would have finished fifth in points and out of the running.

"It's been a nerve-racking week you know because we have had the cars all year to get to where we needed to be," said Harvick. "As we got out the gate in Martinsville we kind of had that incident there and got behind but you just never know how it's going to go. You know, you want to go as far as you can and when you are having a season like this and doing the things that we have done this year you just want to finish it out."

Jeff Gordon finished in the runner-up spot, but ended up losing out on the final spot in the Chase by a single point to Newman.

Newman, the only remaining Chase contender without a win this season, finished 11th after pushing his way past rookie Kyle Larson in the final turn, putting Larson into the wall and knocking Gordon out of the title hunt.

For Newman – all's fair when it comes to racing for a championship.

"I did what I had to do as clean as I could do it," said Newman. "I wasn't proud of it, but I will do what I got to, to make it to this next round," said Newman. "(Kyle Larson) has got a lot of things coming in this sport…I think if he was in my position he would have probably done the same thing."

Gordon, who lost out on a bid for a victory after contact with Brad Keselowski that culminated in a post-race brawl, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

"It's disappointing. Kevin Harvick was in another zip code," said Gordon. "I'm not going to wreck a guy that's racing me clean all year long just to make it into the Chase. That's not what it's all about for me. You're not going to go win the championship next week by doing that.

"I think nobody is more deserving and has worked harder to be at Homestead battling for this championship than this No. 24 team. But some things are out of our control. That's just the system that we have. You've got to race a system the way that it's structured and I'm so proud that I can hold my head up and say that I drove my heart out."

Carl Edwards ended the day 15th and was among those eliminated, joining Kenseth and Keselowski.

Keselowski will miss out on a chance for his second Sprint Cup title despite leading the series in race wins with six this season and leading the points in the opening round of the Chase, but also earning the scorn of his fellow competitors after several controversial post-race incidents.

"I'm obviously a little disappointed. I'm not disappointed with the effort, just disappointed it didn't work out," said Keselowski. "It doesn't feel good to have won the most races and not being in it at Homestead, but it still feels like it has been a great season, winning six races. Nobody is going to win anymore than that, and that's something we're proud of."

Logano and Hamlin, who came into Sunday's race first and second in points, kept their championship hopes alive after both came back from a being lap down to salvage top-ten finishes.

After a flat tire early in the race put him down a lap and as far as 35th and on the verge of being eliminated, Hamlin managed to fight his way back and found himself battling "Lucky Dog" with Logano, who fell off the lead lap after being penalized for dragging a fuel can out of his pit stall.

Logano muscled his way past Hamlin to earn the free pass after a caution flag in lap 202, while another caution flag five laps later got Hamlin his lap back. Both would eventually fight their way back to the front and managed to hold onto the top two positions in the points standings.

Advancing to Championship Round:

Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman.

Eliminated from contention:

Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards.

Championship Round:

Of the final four drivers still in contention, the highest finisher in next Sunday's Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN) will win the championship. There will be no bonus points awarded for laps led or most laps led to the contending drivers in the final race.

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
WHERE DOES THIS WIN RANK? 
"Wow, I guess that is what it feels like to hit a walk off in extra innings there. But just want to thank Sprint, all the fans, Budweiser, Jimmy John's, Outback, Chevrolet, Hunt Brothers, Ditech a new sponsor on board, just everybody who helps us, Mobil 1, everybody at Stewart-Haas. This thing both races here has just been bad to the bone. Everybody on our Budweiser team has done a great job and here we come Homestead."

YOU HAD THE DOMINATE CAR THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE DAY, BUT HOW WERE THE NERVES IN THE FINAL LAPS OF THE RACE? 
"I could tell that we were probably going to have to win because everybody was running up in the front of the pack that we were racing against. That was our goal coming in here and that's really the goal every time you come to Phoenix. This place has just been phenomenal for me personally and for this team this year. To do that in front of all your almost hometown fans and all these people who have been routing for me since the mid-‘90's is pretty unbelievable. Man, I think this says a lot about our team. I think we have been through a lot this year. They put our backs against the wall; we put it in Victory Lane and get to go on."

YOU KNEW THERE WAS ONE THING THAT WOULD GAURANTEE YOU A SPOT IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND AND YOU DID IT IN A BIG WAY
"Yeah, I just have to thank everybody on our Budweiser/Stewart Haas Racing team. We ran about the same way the first time here and came back and the cars have obviously gotten better but we put the same thing underneath it and it had the same amount of speed in practice in it. It's been a nerve-wracking week you know because we have had the cars all year to get to where we needed to be. As we got out the gate in Martinsville we kind of had that incident there and got behind but you just never know how it's going to go. You know, you want to go as far as you can and when you are having a season like this and doing the things that we have done this year you just want to finish it out. I am just really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing."

TALK ABOUT THE INTENSITY ON THOSE LAST FEW RESTARTS AND WHAT WAS THE STRATEGY
"Well we had a little trouble on our transmission ratios here the time before and Rodney and everybody from Hendrick Engines just dialed everything in this time and we could get a really good launch. Our car's strength was speed right off the bat. So we just tried to keep it in the same margin and it all worked out."

WHERE DO YOU RANK THIS WIN IN YOUR CAREER?
"Well, I think you have to stack it up there in the top five for sure. Mostly for the fact that our backs were against the wall and there was really only one way in and that was to win the race. And for us we have been through a lot of moments this year whether they are good or bad. I think they have all been character-building moments to lead up to this point and we can't take any more momentum going to Homestead than we have going right here. I am really excited for all these guys."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd:
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON NOT MOVING ON TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND IN HOMESTEAD, YOU ONLY MISSED IT BY ONE POINT: 
"Yeah, it's disappointing. We have a lot to hold our heads up high about; the way that we raced this race and this whole Chase and the whole season. We raced hard. We raced together as a team. But I hope we taught somebody that you can race clean and still go out there and give it your best. You don't have to wreck people to make it in the Chase or win the championship. I'm afraid if it was that ugly these last couple of weeks it's going to get really ugly next week. I couldn't be more proud of this Axalta Chevrolet team and Alan Gustafson (crew chief) and everybody. This makes last week hurt that much more. But we did everything we could at Martinsville. We did everything we could here, second just wasn't good enough. (Kevin) Harvick was in another zip code. There was nobody that was going to get him today. We did a great job finishing second. You know what I'm not happy about it, but at the same time I'm really proud of what we have done this year and we will go try to win Homestead and end this season on a positive note."

ON THE OUTCOME OF THE RACE
"It's disappointing. Kevin Harvick was in another zip code. I'm not going to wreck a guy that's racing me clean all year long just to make it into the Chase. That's not what it's all about for me. You're not going to go win the championship next week by doing that. So, it's just unfortunate. It's just unfortunate. We did everything so good this year. That one race, that one race is going to stick with me for a little while. I got over it this week, knowing that we could come here and compete like this. Now it makes it sting that much more. But, I couldn't be more proud of what this team did this year. What a great season and great race cars. That's what I'm most disappointed in. I don't think anybody deserves to be Homestead more than this No. 24 team because of the effort that they put in and the performances that we've had. But, you know what? You've got to score the points or win the races to get in there and we didn't do that. So now we'll go to Homestead and battle hard to try to win that race."

IS THAT WHAT MAKES IT SO TOUGH BECAUSE YOU RUN SO WELL BUT YOU'RE JUST ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN?
"Yeah, we did everything right, in my opinion. We did everything that we could control. We ran smart races. We were aggressive when we needed to be. We had great race cars. When we needed to qualify up front, we qualified up front. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) called a great race today. We fell back; had some issues on a pit stop, and fought our way back up there and held on for second there at the end. We gave it everything. I'm proud of that.

"I'm so proud of this race team for all that they've done this year. It's so disappointing. I mean to have two second place finishes in the Chase and know what we were staring at last week, makes last week even tougher to handle. But we certainly did everything we could. We didn't score enough points. We didn't win the race to get us to advance to next week, and now we just put our heads down and go racing this next week really hard to try to win that race and see what we can do next year."

WE KNOW YOU'LL COME BACK AND RACE JUST AS HARD IN 2015
"I certainly will because of this race team. They have inspired me this year. They've given me great cars and great confidence because they've given me such great cars; and pit stops and pit strategy and it's been a lot of fun this year. I think nobody is more deserving and has worked harder to be at Homestead battling for this championship than this No. 24 team. But some things are out of our control."

YOU HAVE COME ALL THIS WAY, AND WIN RACES AND YOU'RE NOT THERE TO BATTLE AT HOMESTEAD. DO YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THAT?
"Well, that's just the system that we have. You've got to race a system the way that it's structured and I'm so proud that I can hold my head up and say that I drove my heart out. This team put their heart and soul into everything we did. There were some things that were out of our control that happened that are unfortunate that kept us out of it. But it wasn't for a lack of effort from our part or good race cars or a good race team. We've got all that. I knew Kevin Harvick was going to be tough today. He was in another zip code. But to come home second, I thought that would be enough. I really did. But it's pretty disappointing that it's not."

HOW TOUGH WAS THAT RACE TODAY? HOW INTENSE WAS THE RACING?
"It was tough. We had a couple restarts that were pretty edgy. The start of the race was the toughest. We were off a little bit on the car. The track was real slick. I was sliding around. I knew it was going to be a long day. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made some great adjustments and got us right back into it. So, we had one issue on pit road that made it that much tougher, but we fought back from all those things and had great pit stops and strategy there and a good race car but it just wasn't enough. It certainly wasn't from lack of effort."

HOW WAS THAT LAST RESTART?
"It was good. The last few were good for me. I could race Kevin (Harvick) down in the corner but I don't know. He didn't have to use brakes! I don't know what they've got in that thing. He was just in another zone today. It's unbelievable. I've never seen a car that fast; that much faster than the competition. You've got to give them a lot of credit. They deserved it. They made their way into it. I think they are going to be a real factor next week."

ON THE PRESSURE OF THE RACE
‘There was pressure. But honestly, nothing to me was worse from a pressure standpoint than Talladega. To know that track and what it offers and what can happen there and to be in a position where you're not safe, but you've got to be conservative. That was the worst weekend. This win, I just feel confident in my race team. We can go out there. When you have a race where you can play a role in the outcome, you have more confidence in how you are performing and what your team is doing; whether it be strategy or pit stops or setting up the car. So, I don't know. I had confidence coming into today. And we finished second. That's pretty good."

YOU WORKED SO HARD ALL YEAR. EMOTIONALLY, HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW?
"I'm disappointed. I thought if we came out of here second, even if it was to Kevin or (Brad) Keselowski, I thought we'd still make it in. That's pretty disappointing to do all of that. It just makes last week that much more disappointing and I'm going to be thinking about that one for a while."

IF RYAN NEWMAN DID WRECK KYLE LARSON ON THE FINAL TURN TO MAKE THE CHASE, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
"Well, he ran him wide. I don't know if I'd say he wrecked him. He certainly ran him up the race track. That's the system that we have. Wait until next week when the championship is on the line. You're going to see a lot more than that. That's what NASCAR wants this to become to create intensity and interest and that's what's going to happen. You have to expect it. But just like what happened on pit road last week, there are lines that need to be drawn or somebody's going to cross the line and they'll have to back everybody up."

ON THE NEW FORMAT
"I like it. It's exciting; the most interest I've seen in this sport in a long, long time; not necessarily for all good reasons, but it certainly makes it very challenging and difficult to get there. Only next week will tell. You want it to just come down to the best teams. That's not necessarily always the case."

IS THIS THE MOST EMPTY FEELING YOU'VE HAD AFTER DRIVING A GREAT RACE?
"Yeah. It is; besides last week (laughs)."

BUT YOU'VE GOT TO SUM-UP YOUR SEASON BY SAYING YOU WERE ALIVE AND IN IT RIGHT TO THE END
"Oh, I told my wife when the day started that no matter what happens today, we have a lot to smile about and be happy about. We have two wonderful children. We've worked our guts out this year as a race team and we've won races and showed everybody what kind of race team we are. And for that I'm extremely proud. I knew if this moment happened and we had that kind of performance today, it would be very tough to take. But that's the reality of it."

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CAT MINING CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11th TO TRANSFER TO FINAL FOUR DRIVERS TO COMPETE IN HOMESTEAD FOR THE 2014 CHAMPIONSHIP: ON HIS RACE: "I did what I had to do as clean as I could do it. I'm not the kind of guy to turn somebody, so I just drifted as much as I could to get in there. My Cat Mining Chevy stuck on the apron and we made it."

WHEN YOU STARTED THAT LAST LAP DID YOU THINK YOU WERE GOING TO GET THAT POSITION BACK? 
"I just gave it my all. They paved that down there I guess for a reason. They didn't make any rules that said we couldn't use it. A great team effort today, we did not have the race car. We had horrible restarts and didn't have track position with the CAT Mining Chevrolet when we needed to. But in the end we fought back hard, did what we had to as clean as I possibly could. I wasn't proud of it, but I will do what I got to, to make it to this next round. That little boy (Kyle Larson) has got a lot of things coming in this sport. He used me up like that at Eldora in a truck a couple of years ago. From my standpoint I call it even, but I think if he was in my position he would have probably done the same thing."

WHAT ABOUT THE BATTLE NEAR THE END WITH (MARCOS) AMBROSE AND HIM (KYLE LARSON): "Those guys were giving nobody any breaks and I didn't give anybody any breaks and we made it in."

TALK ABOUT THE EMOTIONS THAT WENT INTO THIS: "It isn't just today, it is three races that went into it. The guys with the Caterpillar Chevrolet did an awesome job, Luke (Lambert, crew chief) and the crew. We still have to shine up our performance for next weekend. But, I'm really proud of the effort they put it to get us to where we are."

YOU KEPT YOUR HEAD DOWN, YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS BUT YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU ALL DAY. IT WASN'T EASY BUT WHAT A JOB: "I'm whipped. I haven't been this tired in 312 laps around this place in a long time. Just proud of these guys at RCR (Richard Childress Racing) and ECR Engines, Caterpillar, Quicken Loans, Kwikset, Wix Filters, Chevrolet, everybody for this opportunity. All the fans for coming out. I didn't want to do what I did at the end, but I did what I had to do and kept it as clean as I possibly could. As I said before, he (Kyle Larson) did the same thing to me in a truck race for about $9,000 to win. To me there is a Sprint Cup Championship on the line and I kept it as clean as I could."

RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO RCR? "It is unbelievable. We are in it for the championship when we go down there (Homestead-Miami Speedway. He (Ryan Newman) drove with his heart and that is what he did. That is what it took to get in. That was the worst set of tires (last set) that we'd had all day long. Ran in the top five, six, seven and eight. Then that set of tires just knocked us plumb out of it. But he made it happen."

DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY CHEVROLET SS, FINISHED 22ND: ON HER RACE: "We were on the lead lap, which has been a struggle here lately. The GoDaddy car was good early on, but I think the track got tight later on. We finished decent, so I'll take it. It's always important to run well here because of GoDaddy so I'll take it."

MARTIN TRUEX JR. NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW/DENVER MATTRESS CHEVROLET SS – Finished 12th
"We were really strong on the long runs, but lacked speed on the short runs. All-in-all a good day with having to come from the rear with 100 (laps) to go and getting run into as many times as we did."

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE'S PATRIOTIC CHEVROLET SS – INVOLVED IN AN ON-TRACK INCIDENT ON LAP 236
WHAT HAPPENED?
"The root of our biggest problem was the fact that the alternator quit working and we had to keep changing batteries on pit road each caution. Then when I would go back out on the race track I would need to run with my fans off. I didn't have my brake fans on and was racing hard to try to get a decent finish and evidently just got things too hot and the brakes failed. I felt a rotor explode on the front straightaway. Luckily it did it there so I had time to throw it in third gear, slow it down some, stay wide into turn one and try not to have a bad angle of the impact of the wall because I was going to hit for sure. So, it was just bad day that kept getting worse. I hope to make it home safe and outside of that, we will see you in Homestead.

TALK ABOUT YOUR MISERABLE DAY
"Yeah, it was just a tough day. We had several issues that went on. The alternator wasn't working. And then we were changing batteries out the whole time every caution. We lost a lap. The car wouldn't re-fire once. We got our lap back; and then running with no fans and racing in traffic I guess just got the brakes too hot and blew the rotor going down the front stretch. Luckily it was on the straight so I could downshift to third (gear) and try to get it into the outside wall to slow it down so the impact wouldn't be too bad. It was a terrible day, for sure. But we tested in Homestead and I'm looking forward to going down there."

Results

POS	DRIVER	BEHIND	GAP	LAPS	LED	POINTS
1	KEVIN HARVICK	LEADER	LEADER	312	264	4102
2	JEFF GORDON	1.637	1.637	312	0	4102
3	MATT KENSETH	2.587	0.950	312	0	4100
4	BRAD KESELOWSKI	3.072	0.485	312	0	4095
5	DENNY HAMLIN	5.439	2.367	312	24	4112
6	JOEY LOGANO	5.631	0.192	312	17	4111
7	KURT BUSCH	6.222	0.591	312	0	2229
8	DALE EARNHARDT JR.	6.428	0.206	312	4	2271
9	GREG BIFFLE	7.422	0.994	312	0	2244
10	MARCOS AMBROSE	7.874	0.452	312	0	853
11	RYAN NEWMAN	8.410	0.536	312	0	4103
12	MARTIN TRUEX JR.	8.652	0.242	312	0	830
13	KYLE LARSON #	9.005	0.353	312	0	1049
14	JAMIE MCMURRAY	9.502	0.497	312	0	975
15	CARL EDWARDS	9.605	0.103	312	0	4088
16	AJ ALLMENDINGER	10.217	0.612	312	0	2256
17	RICKY STENHOUSE JR.	10.855	0.638	312	0	735
18	ARIC ALMIROLA	11.052	0.197	312	0	2170
19	BRIAN VICKERS	11.130	0.078	312	0	900
20	TONY STEWART	11.724	0.594	312	0	798
21	KASEY KAHNE	12.268	0.544	312	0	2202
22	DANICA PATRICK	12.624	0.356	312	0	709
23	PAUL MENARD	13.048	0.424	312	0	904
24	DAVID GILLILAND	13.467	0.419	312	0	541
25	DAVID RAGAN	14.691	1.224	312	2	517
26	MICHAEL ANNETT #	1 LAP	–	311	1	522
27	TY DILLON(I)	2 LAPS	–	310	0	0
28	REED SORENSON	2 LAPS	–	310	0	496
29	LANDON CASSILL(I)	2 LAPS	–	310	0	0
30	JJ YELEY(I)	3 LAPS	–	309	0	0
31	MICHAEL MCDOWELL	3 LAPS	–	309	0	232
32	ALEX BOWMAN #	4 LAPS	–	308	0	401
33	JOEY GASE(I)	4 LAPS	–	308	0	0
34	KYLE BUSCH	4 LAPS	–	308	0	2280
35	CASEY MEARS	7 LAPS	–	305	0	758
36	MIKE WALLACE(I)	9 LAPS	–	303	0	0
37	JUSTIN ALLGAIER #	10 LAPS	–	302	0	607
38	AUSTIN DILLON #	29 LAPS	–	283	0	939
39	JIMMIE JOHNSON	77 LAPS	–	235	0	2239
40	CLINT BOWYER	101 LAPS	–	211	0	943
41	JOSH WISE	108 LAPS	–	204	0	393
42	COLE WHITT #	165 LAPS	–	147	0	514
43	MIKE BLISS(I)	296 LAPS	–	16	0	0