May 20, 2007
By Ron Felix

Harvick Leads Johnson To Finish Line * CIA Stock Photo

Kevin Harvick fought off the advances of Jimmie Johnson late in the final segment of the 23rd NASCAR Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night. After pitting several times for a tire rubbing Johnson fought his way back to the front to put pressure on Harvick. It was almost a given that Johnson was going to blow by Harvick, but Harvick changed his line slightly, to mirror Johnson's tire tracks -- not to mention Harvick started backing off the gas a little sooner entering the turns in order to allow him to run the bottom. That way Harvick did not slide up the track and Johnson couldn't get a run beneath him. The strategy worked.

"Just pretty awesome to put your name on that trophy," Harvick said. "I know I haven't been the biggest fan of the All-Star race but I guess I have a million reasons to be now. I think anytime you have something you don't have success; we have torn a lot of stuff up in the past. I guess tonight makes it better and I understand why everybody likes it so much, just a lot of fun to be a part of."

Harvick won his first All-Star race and gave his car owner, Richard Childress, his fourth victory in the prestigious race. Dale Earnhardt won the other three for Childress.

"We had our new Chevy R07 engine in the car tonight and that was our first crack at it in the car and obviously it ran really well," Harvick continued. "We were really able to compete. These mile and a half tracks have been our weakness this year; we struggled at Texas and Las Vegas. We came here with a different car and different engine package and we were able to be competitive all night. I think the worst we were was fourth the whole night. We put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win and we were able to pull it off."

"To win the Daytona 500 and the All-Star race is pretty cool," said Harvick, who gave car owner Richard Childress his first win of the All-Star since racing legend Dale Earnhardt won in 1993. It also marked the 20th year anniversary of Earnhardt's famous pass in the grass.

Harvick's win marked the 13th victory for Chevrolet in 23 years running of this non-points event under the lights at Lowe's Motor Speedway. This was the second million-dollar payday for Harvick, who also earned $1.5 million for winning the '07 series-opening Daytona 500 in February and established himself as a winner of two major events in the sport.

Childress and Harvick also celebrated the first victory for the new Chevrolet RO7 engine. "This was the first win for GM's RO7 engine and I'm just really happy that Richard Childress Racing got it," said Childress, who just recently formed an engine program with Dale Earnhardt Inc. "We're excited about doing our new deal with DEI. I know that's what Dale would want us to be doing today. Hopefully we can all work together and make both outfits a lot stronger. Kevin really got the job done all night. I'm just proud of the whole team."

Twenty-One cars started the All-Star Challenge, five by being previous winners, the top two from the evening's Nextel Open and one by fans voting a driver into the event. Martin Truex Jr. won the Nextel Open and Johnny Sauter finished second -- making them the two transfer drivers.

For the third driver it was Kenny Wallace winning the fan vote.

There were several wrecks during the night but the biggest fireworks and most memorable moments were when brothers Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch wrecked. Kyle's car broke loose with Kurt on the high side. The result was a trip to the outside wall for both drivers. Kyle Busch refused comment after the race but Kurt said that the two would talk. He also mentioned that wouldn't be eating Kellogg's anytime soon.

“I knew I had a car on the inside. It was my little brother and he was on the gas," said Kurt Busch. "He was racing hard and inevitably the Busch Brothers had to get together. A million bucks were up for grabs, and I’m sure that’s why he didn’t lift and I’m sure that’s why I didn’t give an inch. We wrecked two good race cars. He did a weird move that I didn’t expect of him. Maybe I should have given an inch and maybe he shouldn’t have taken that inch. I’m pretty sure we’ll discuss this. We can’t just let it go. We can’t take it too serious because we’ve got to go race next week. He’s wrecked a lot of Busch cars right now. I’ve got to say that. I’ve been trying to tell him to calm down a little bit and back it off. Instead of running 100 percent maybe he should run at 98. He was at 102 right there.

“I really didn’t know it was him, but I knew it was a pretty aggressive move underneath me. It startled me and I didn’t give an inch to that guy and that guy was my little brother. It has to happen. Guys race on the track all the time and cars run into each other. Him not taking an inch and me not giving an inch that’s what happened.

Mark Martin, who had the fastest car on the track for the majority of the final 14 laps of the event, was able to close in on the leaders while pulling away from the rest of the field. Martin threatened to take the race from both Harvick and Johnson but had to settle for third.

“Eventually I wore out my right-front tire trying to get around the No. 48 (Johnson),” said Martin. “I was trying everything I could do. I knew if I could get around him quickly, we’d have a shot at winning. However, I couldn’t pass Jimmie low and I lost some grip trying to go high. Still, this was a great run.”

Jeff Burton was strong all night and he finished fourth followed by Tony Stewart, Johnny Sauter, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his teammate Martin Truex Jr. to round out the top ten.

There were three lead changes among three drivers.

The Nextel Cup points racing resumes next week, Sunday May 27, 2007 for the Coca-Cola 600 -- also at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

For full Open and Challenge race results...     (Insider Racing News)