Harvick finally wins Loudon race

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LOUDON, N.H. – Kevin Harvick said he has always enjoyed coming to New Hampshire for the Nextel Cup races in July and September.

“I like it because it’s cool [weather-wise] and it’s green,” said Harvick after collecting his first ever win at NHIS in the Sylvania 300 Sunday afternoon.

“I’ve always felt comfortable here and we’ve run well. We just never quite closed the deal,” said Harvick, who finished second at NHIS in a Cup race on July 20, 2003 and was fifth in this past July’s race.

The 30-year-old Californian certainly closed the deal in the first of the 10-race series for the points championship as he won the pole and led 196 of the 300 laps including the final 83.

Harvick is making his first appearance in the three-year history of the Chase and he and teammate Jeff Burton became the first drivers from Richard Childress Racing to earn spots in the Chase.

Harvick had to survive a lap 297 restart caused by Kyle Petty, whose car leaked oil on the track.

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart were second and third and Stewart was able to pass Gordon for second as Harvick pulled away to win by .77 seconds.

Gordon finished third with Denny Hamlin, the only rookie in the Chase, finishing fourth and Brian Vickers coming home in fifth place. Rounding out the top 10 were Elliott Sadler, Burton, J.J. Yeley, Dave Blaney and Matt Kenseth.

Harvick, Gordon, Hamlin, Burton and Kenseth are involved in the Chase along with Mark Martin, who finished 11th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (13th), Kasey Kahne (16th), Kyle Busch (38th) and Jimmie Johnson (39th). Busch and Johnson were both involved in wrecks.

“It was really awesome to be able to capitalize on the race car we had this weekend. To sit on the pole and run as well as it did from the time we unloaded it is something that’s hard to do. It was an incredible day,” said Harvick, who is also running away with the Busch series points championship.

He credited crew chief, Todd Berrier, and his crew for their roles in his third consecutive win.

He won both the Cup and Busch races in Richmond last weekend.

“Todd and the guys worked hard all day to keep us up front. We were a little bit tight in the beginning and made some really big adjustments,” said Harvick, whose victory was the ninth of his career in Nextel Cup and fourth this season.

He has six top-10 finishes in his last seven Cup races and has moved from third to first in the revamped points, 35 points ahead of Hamlin.

“We knew this car could win but, on the flip side, but the best car doesn’t hardly ever win a race,” said Berrier. “You’ve got to make the right adjustments and when you’re leading the race, it’s hard to get as aggressive with the changes as you need to get because you figure ‘Ah, well, it’s good enough.”

Berrier said the major change they had to make was “putting a bunch of [spring] rubbers in the right rear spring which is a pretty decent change for us during the race because you do lose track position to do that. It kills the pit stop a few seconds. We had to do it early and get it over with.”

That creates better grip.

“We got the car rolling through the center really good. We were able to hold our own on the long runs after that,” added Harvick.

He said he wasn’t that concerned about the final restart.

“I knew the No. 24 [Gordon] wasn’t as good on the restarts as we were and I knew the No. 20 [Stewart] would probably get around him with two new tires. Our car was extremely good on the restarts. For whatever reason, it would really take off.”

Harvick made a daring early-race maneuver when he split Burton and Hamlin to pass them.

“The hole closed up in a hurry. But at that point, you are committed, so you just hold the pedal down and hope for the best because you’ve already screwed up. Luckily, it didn’t tear anybody up and everyone came out of it OK,” said Harvick.

Hamlin said, “I thought it was risky at the time. I was surprised. He could have passed me and the 31 [Burton] fairly easily in five laps. But he wanted to get to the front in a hurry and didn’t want to get mired in traffic. He left that to me.”

Gordon said he hopes Harvick continues trying maneuvers like that because “they’ll lose him the championship if he’s not careful. But other than that, it was a flawless day for him and the last two weekends have been fantastic.”

Gordon said he struggled with the handling in the in the middle of the race but was pleased with his finish.

“All I can ask for every single weekend is to have the type of race car and effort we had today. If we can do that, we are really going to give these guys a run for their money,” said Gordon.

Hamlin said he didn’t feel any extra pressure being the only rookie in the Chase.

“The stress is off. I’m just out there running race to race,” said Hamlin. “To be where we’re at is pretty unbelievable. We’ve just got to keep capitalizing on great runs. A top-five finish is great for us.”