Despite pitfalls, Kevin Harvick victorious in Nationwide race at Las Vegas
Kevin Harvick won the Sam's Town 350 on Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. // Bambi Mattila, NASCAR Illustrated
LAS VEGAS – The best car in the Sam's Town 300 finally got to the front – just in time to win the race.
Frustrated by slow stops by his Kevin Harvick Inc. crew on pit road and a variety of different tire strategies on the part of his competitors, Harvick passed Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin for the lead with 25 laps left in Saturday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and pulled away to beat Hamlin by 1.361 seconds.
The victory was Harvick's first of the season and the 35th of his career, second best all-time in NASCAR's Nationwide Series.
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards ran third, polesitter Brad Keselowsk (Penske Racing)i fourth and Braun Racing's Brian Vickers fifth. Diamond Waltrip Racing's Trevor Bayne, Penske's Justin Allgaier, Roush Fenway Racing's Paul Menard, Baker Curb Racing's Greg Biffle and Rusty Wallace Racing's Steve Wallace completed the top 10. Danica Patrick ran 82 laps before falling out of the race following a crash and finished 36th in her final NASCAR race before returning full time to the IndyCar Series.
Fortunately for Harvick, his car had enough muscle to overcome what crew chief Ernie Cope termed the team's "worst day ever" on pit road. Harvick lost spots on every exchange of pit stops.
"The car was really fast," said Harvick, who led a race-high 82 laps, most of them early in the race before getting burned by the slow work in the pits. "We've definitely got some work to do on pit road, but, fortunately, the car was fast enough.
"I get mad, and they [on the crew] know how I am and what I expect of them. … But you can only gripe about it so long, and then you have to go back and drive the car."
JGR's Kyle Busch led 43 laps and was chasing Harvick and Hamlin during the final 25-lap green-flag run before contact with the wall in Turn 2 slowed his progress and dropped him to 16th at the finish. Busch, however, had the strongest car at the midpoint of the 200-lap race and led Vickers by 3.537 seconds when NASCAR yellow-flagged the race for the fourth time on Lap 104 because of a light rain shower.
Edwards retained the series points lead by 41 over second-place Keselowski, 48 over Vickers in third and 56 over Allgaier in fourth.
