Kevin Harvick off to impressive start in 2010
Kenny Bruce
Kenny Bruce is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association's George Cunningham Writer of the Year Award. He joined Street & Smith's Sports Group in 2001.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Sifting through the clutter after Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout:
Kevin Harvick’s last three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins have all come at Daytona International Speedway. That’s not necessarily a good thing – two have been in the Shootout and his 2007 Daytona 500 trophy is gathering dust. His winless streak in points races, for the time being, lives on.
Maybe Harvick didn’t have a full field with which to contend – 24 cars made up the starting lineup – but we’re not going to go out on a limb here and say a field of 43 cars would have altered the outcome. It’s highly likely that several of those would have parked early anyway – hoping to beat the rush to see NASA’s rocket launch.
Regardless, the Richard Childress Racing driver and the No. 31 team were impressive in their first outing of the season.
• NASCAR’s “hands off” move regarding bump drafting, coupled with a bigger restrictor plate, didn’t exactly deliver the havoc on the track that some predicted. Overall, the Shootout was a relatively clean race. Plenty of side-by-side competition, and 11 of the race’s 12 lead changes came under green.
That bodes well for this week’s 150-mile qualifying races (which are typically clean anyway) and Sunday’s Daytona 500 (which is typically a mess).
• Are the Ford teams back? Despite contending last year, and winning three times, it was a bleak year overall for Ford teams. Yet Carl Edwards was dominant early, Greg Biffle was contending for the win before a flat tire sent him spinning, and Kasey Kahne scored a solid runnerup finish.
If anything, they showed that their restrictor-plate programs are competitive. And their best pieces are still on the truck. Might be wise to keep an eye on the three in the coming week.
• Hendrick Motorsports, which finished 1-2-3 in the points last year, (yes, and 25th, too) didn’t lead a lap Saturday night. Mean anything? In this instance, probably not. A Hendrick car hasn’t won a Shootout since … well, OK, since 2008 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
A win in the non-points race is a nice way to start the season, but it’s not a make-or-break event by any means.
Still, as Harvick and others will no doubt tell you, winning the Shootout certainly beats the alternative.
