After 600 Miles of Racing, Harvick Wins on Fuel Gamble

Well, this Memorial Day weekend produced some of the strangest racing and bizarre finishes that I can remember. On the last lap of the centennial Indianapolis 500, rookie JR Hildebrand was leading with just laps to go. The rest of the leaders were slowed trying to conserve fuel, which Hildebrand did at the beginning of the run so he could race at the end. That is what enabled him to grab the lead as Danica Patrick and Dario Franchitti slowed and pitted for gas. It looked as if the Panther Racing National Guard team that finished second the previous three years would finally be able take the traditional drink of milk in victory lane. But on the final lap, in the final turn, Hildebrand did what so many cars had done earlier in the event. His car pushed up the track off tun four, sending his car hard into the outside wall. His car did coast across the finish line, but not before Dan Weldon could score the win. Hildebrand was forced to finish second. Would the Coca Cola 600 be able to compete with this thrilling finish?

Nascar's longest night began with a somber, solemn tribute to our military men and women who paid the ultimate in service to this nation. Pre race ceremonies began with a bagpipe band playing Amazing Grace, a 21-gun salute and a lone bugle playing taps. A prayer was give for the safety of the drivers, fans, crews and military and Darius Rucker performed the national anthem. Then the engines fired and 43 of Nascar's finest embarked on their longest night of the season.

Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag. But he didn't last long as Carl Edwards grabbed the lead and checked out. It looked like this was going to be a repeat of the All Star race. But as with every race that transitions into night, if you're good early, you probably aren't going to be the one in victory lane. Richard Petty Motorsports drivers AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose also continued their string of strong runs, leading several laps and contending for the victory. The other car that showed some muscle early on and into the darkness, much to delight of about 95% of Nascar Nation, was the #88 of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Would stock car racing's favorite son finally snap his 100-plus race loosing streak?

The marathon race continued into night with very few incidents. But when the sunwent down and the race wore on, the drivers tired and started to make some mistakes. The first major wreck happened when Paul Menard spun. His #27 car drove off unscathed, but some cars behind were not so lucky. Mark Martin drilled Martn Truex, Jr, sending his #56 NAPA Toyota into the wall with Brian Vicker's #83 car. Martin also wrecked David Gilliland and Ryan Newman later in the race. But the real action came late in the event when the four letter F-word started being tossed around.

No, not that F-word. (You'd need a radio scanner to hear that). Fuel. It's just so strange how after more than 500 miles of good, hard racing, the end of this 600 mile marathon can come down to who can save the most gas. The top three cars were Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Dale Jr. David Ragan and the rest of the top six or seven cars had slowed to save fuel. It looked as if the race was the Biff's to lose. Maybe Kasey would manage to steal one. But maybe, just maybe, they'd run out of gas racing each other and Junior would speed past both of them and net a victory in one of the sport's crown jewel events. When Junior asked if he should be saving more gas, crew chief Steve Letarte had a very simple response: "NO. GO."

Just a few laps shy of the finish, Jimmie Johnson nuked an engine, sending his chances for a good finish and his Lowe's Chevy, to the garage in a cloud of smoke. This meant that the race would finish under a green, white, checker finish (there can be as many as three attempts at a green, white, checker) and that if you were close on gas before, you are in some serious trouble now. Greg Biffle was the only one of the leaders to blink and surrendered the lead to pit for fuel. Junior, Denny Hamlin and several other cars were running on the apron in the corners to keep fuel in their pickup valves. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton both got a push from their team mate Menard under this yellow. The pace car pulled down pit road and it was time to see if anyone would stumble or if all the cars would go.

The latter turned out to be the case as Khane, along with several other drivers stalled out on the restart, which allowed Dale Jr to grab a commanding lead. Denny Hamlin ran second and Harvick rode in third. It stayed that way through the white flag lap, but as the field came around turn two to the backstretch, Junior's car slowed going into turn three. It looked as if he would have enough speed to coast to the finish line since Hamlin's tank ran dry shortly after. But it was not to be, as Kevin Harvick (running a fitting military stealth paint scheme) snuck up from third and scored the win. Mr. "Where did he come from?" lived up to his nickname once again. Earnhardt and Hamlin finished seventh and tenth respectively.

Earnhardt, Jr and Letarte both said after the race that they were disappointed, but they only showed up for one reason. Letarte said that all teams need to ask themselves: "Did you come to run up front or did you come to win?" Junior echoed his crew chief's sentiment. "We had to try" he said. "Think about it man- winning the 600! That'd be awesome. I had to try. Had to try." Even though they came up short, the #88 team remains optimistic. Letarte said his trophy case "isn't full enough" to not go for the victory. "We come to get trophies" he said. "That's two races this year- Martinsville and here- that we had a shot to win in the last 25 laps." This team has run well all season long, save for a race or two, and they will get a win. It's just a matter of when.

So this week, the teams head from the Queen City to Kansas City and the Kansas Speedway. Nascar will be heading to "The Sunflower State" twice for the first time this season, which is great. The way the track has worn, it really promotes side by side racing and drivers can use multiple grooves to make their better. That's what makes the Kansas Speedway so much fun. Will Kevin Harvick win two in a row for the second time this season? Will Dale Junior finally win a race after coming so close last weekend? Or will another driver drive into victory lane this weekend? We'll have to wait 400 miles around the Kansas Speedway to see which driver will take home the trophy. Should be an awesome race!