By Brian Bielanski, Editor
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (RacingWire) – Kevin Harvick proved once again leading a lot of laps isn't necessary to take home the checkered flag. Harvick took the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr. with four laps to go and held on to win the Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
“Just an awesome day,” said Harvick. “I didn't think we had the car to do that. We put those two tires on and I got to the front and all the sudden everything was woken up. I had a lot of fun racing with Dale Jr., and I hate to be the guy that is the bad guy here, but we are in it it win it.”
Earnhardt used a bump and run to take the lead from Kyle Busch with 20 laps to go and looked like he was going to hold on for the win. That was until Harvick came knocking. It's been 99 races since Earnhardt's last win.
Busch didn't think Junior's tap was out of line. “I was holding him up,” said Busch. “I sucked. So it was good for him. I mean, he took the lead. No harm, no foul.”
Earnhardt's emotions were mixed following the race. “I'm really thrilled, I know it don't look like it, but I've got such a hell of an opportunity,” said Earnhardt Jr. “This is such a great group to be around, and I'm having fun it. I'm racing cars. It's all I've ever wanted to do. I want to run like this-- I want to finish like this and run a little bit better than this on every weekend, and we are right on the outside of that, you know, and it's frustrating to be that close. It was frustrating to be leading the race with just a few -- inside ten laps to go and be passed. But there's definitely a brighter side to what's going on, too, and I won't forget to notice that.”
The day started with drivers apprehensive about the tire Goodyear brought to Martinsville and for the first 100 laps of the race many expressed their frustration. Some drivers reported the track began to “rubber in” after about 150 laps and that's when things began to get a bit racy
The result was vintage Martinsville with beating and banging and plenty of battered race cars.
In what was the most vicious wreck of the day, Martin Truex Jr. was merely a passenger when his throttle stuck going into turn three. Truex slammed into the rear of Kasey Kahne's No.4 Red Bull Toyota before hitting the wall so hard a 25 minute red flag was needed to fix the wall. Both Truex and Kahne were unhurt.
“We had the throttle stuck wide open – not sure why,” said Truex Jr. (I) went to let off to go into three and it was stuck to the floor. Not much I can do at that point here. Thanks to NASCAR and everyone who builds the SAFER barriers and these cars and everything, they're unbelievable. 10 Years ago I wouldn't be standing here.”
The win was Harvick's second in two weeks and the 16th of his Sprint Cup career. Harvick credits his father for his ability to be around at the end of races to compete for good finishes.
“My dad always told me the pay window didn't open until the checkered flag was flown,” said Harvick, “and we survived and raced off of what we won each week. My first year, I tore my late model up and we only got to run seven races because I wrecked it every other week. The second year we wrecked one time and we won the championship because we were always around at the end and would take advantage of other peoples mistakes. I guess it's just the way I was taught to race. You have to be around at the end to win these races.”
There were 31 lead changes breaking the previous track of record of 25 set in 1980.
Tony Raines (No.37) will be locked in to next week's race in Texas even though his car owner's points are tied with Andy Lally's (No.71). The tie breaker for the top 35 is best finish which gives Raines' car 35th place and forces Lally to qualify on time.
