Harvick sprints to win first Cup

There was no trick to Kevin Harvick’s first Sprint Cup championship. Competing for the title against three other drivers, he seized his opportunity with a relentless dash through the field in the closing laps of the season finale.

It was exactly what NASCAR was looking for when it revamped its playoff format this year to try to force drivers to win races.

Harvick picked off car after car, and passed two other title contenders on a series of restarts as he aggressively chased both the victory and the title Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. His desperate drive from 12th to first over the final 15 laps gave Harvick the championship over Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano.

All four were determined to claim their first career title, and all four raced to win – because winning, it turned out, mattered in this Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

The four drivers all found themselves racing each other at the front of the field after the sun went down on the 400-mile race. It was Hamlin who seemed to have the race in control until a caution with 20 laps to go. All four teams were forced to make tough strategy decisions that ultimately decided their fate.

Joe Gibbs Racing decided not to pit Hamlin, which moved him to second on the restart. Richard Childress Racing gave Ryan Newman two tires, while Harvick’s crew chief made the risky call for four tires.

Team Penske also had planned to give Joey Logano four tires, but a problem with the jack destroyed Logano’s chances and he dropped from sixth to 21st.

Harvick restarted 12th with 15 laps to go and not much time to pick his way through traffic. As Hamlin passed leader Jeff Gordon on the restart, Harvick shot past four cars into seventh.

“The seas kind of parted down the backstretch and we were able to get three or four cars or six, I guess, or five. You’ve got a very short time to do it,” he said. “You had all the championship guys show up at the front of the pack. I was just going to hold the pedal down and hope for the best.”

Then came another caution, and Hamlin, on old tires, knew he was in trouble. Harvick, on the four fresh tires, rocketed through the middle on the restart, dicing his way through traffic to pick up another four spots and move into second.

“I loved our chances, but they weren’t there at the end,” Hamlin said. “Strategy is part of winning, and the strategy for us didn’t work out with the cautions.”

Harvick got by Hamlin, then Newman passed Hamlin for second. There was one more caution, forcing Harvick to nail one final restart with three laps remaining, and he eased his way ahead of Newman on his way to the win.

The win capped a magical first season at Stewart-Haas Racing, where Harvick moved this year after 13 seasons with Richard Childress that failed to produce a championship.

Harvick, who had to win last week at Phoenix just to advance into Sunday’s final four, wrapped up his third victory of this Chase and fifth of the season. He leaned this week on team co-owner Tony Stewart, a three-time champion, and Jimmie Johnson, the six-time champion.

“Been trying for 13 years,” an emotional Harvick said. “This week ate me up. If it wasn’t for Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, I would have been in bad trouble this week. Those guys really helped me get through the week. After every practice, Jimmie was in there, and in our team debriefs Tony was constantly telling me just to go race and that it’s just another race.”

NHRA

Erica Enders-Stevens won the Auto Club NHRA Finals to become the first woman to earn the Pro Stock world championship.

Enders-Stevens raced to her sixth victory of the season when her closest points rival Jason Line fouled at the start of the winner-take-all final round at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California. She is the third woman to win an NHRA world championship.

In other races, Matt Hagan claimed the Funny Car world championship over John Force and also won the season-ending race, while Andrew Hines took the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship with a victory in the first round. Morgan Lucas won in Top Fuel and Hector Arana Jr. won in Pro Stock Motorcycle.