Harvick’s win caps Childress’ busy weekend

CONCORD, N.C. – Because Kevin Harvick wrecked three times in his first six All-Star appearances, there was no reason to expect this year to be much better.

But car owner Richard Childress is on such a hot streak, the team should have known its luck was about to change.

Harvick scored a $1 million jackpot Saturday night by beating Jimmie Johnson to the finish line of the Nextel All-Star Challenge, temporarily kicking Hendrick Motorsports out of Victory Lane.

Hendrick drivers had won eight of the last nine points races and Johnson had a stranglehold on Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where he’s won seven times since 2003.

“To beat Jimmie and the Hendrick crew – I’ve got so much respect for Rick and his whole organization, and this is their home track,” Childress said. “So to go out and see Kevin do a great job of driving, one of the best I’ve ever seen … no pressure got to him and he beat that team here. Just a huge win.”

One that kept Childress perfect on the weekend.

The longtime car owner opened All-Star festivities by revealing a merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc. that would produce engines for both teams. The deal was struck between Childress and Earnhardt’s widow, Teresa, as a way to strengthen both organizations and allow them to challenge Hendrick and Joe Gibbs Racing for superiority in NASCAR’s top series.

As the garage buzzed with news of the merger, Childress scored a victory in an Atlanta courtroom when sponsor AT&T won an injunction against NASCAR to place its logos on RCR driver Jeff Burton’s car. The car has been sponsored by Cingular, but the company was absorbed by AT&T and NASCAR wouldn’t allow a name change because of its exclusivity agreement with series sponsor Sprint Nextel.

The appeals stretched into Saturday afternoon, and when the judge finally ruled that AT&T would be on the car for Saturday’s race, RCR officials had to scramble to change Burton’s paint scheme.

Harvick started the final 20-lap segment in fourth place. But he quickly used a three-wide pass to get by Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch and take the lead. It was a gutsy move at the time, but once out front, he told his crew it had just won him the race.