Concord, NC (Best E Casino) - Kevin Harvick captured the NASCAR Nextel All- Star Challenge held at the Lowe's Motor Speedway. The No.29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.141 seconds ahead of Jimmie Johnson.
The All-Star win, which doesn't count towards the Nextel Cup championship, was the first of Harvick's Nextel Cup career. The victory was worth $1,011,125 to the winner.
"To win the Daytona 500 and the All-Star race is pretty cool," said Harvick.
Matt Kenseth, with a lot of help from his pit crew, won the pole for the exhibition event and led the field to the green flag for the first of four 20- lap segments. He led all 20 laps of the first segment and collected a $75,000 bonus.
The No.5 of Kyle Busch didn't take any tires and became the race leader for segment two. Every other team took four tires except Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton and Harvick who took just two right-side tires. But "Junior's" plan was ruined when he was penalized for speeding on pit lane and sent to the back of the field.
Busch's Chevrolet enjoyed the clean air and quickly built a lead of more than one second. Kenseth restarted in third place and by lap 25 began to challenge Harvick for second place.
Gordon was also running well and he joined Kenseth in the run for second. He caught Kenseth on lap 28 and passed him on the next lap. But while this was going on, Busch was driving off into the distance. Gordon took second place from Harvick on lap 31, but he was 2.763 seconds behind Busch with nine laps to go in segment two. Gordon's four newer tires were working only a little better than Busch's old tires and with five to go the margin was still 2.430 seconds.
Busch won the second segment by 2.193 seconds and his team also collected a $75,000 bonus for the segment win.
On the restart for segment three, Busch got away cleanly, but Gordon got loose and fell all the way to fifth place behind Kenseth, Harvick and Mark Martin. Following a caution flag for a Bobby Labonte spin, Kenseth took advantage of a poor Busch restart to grab the race lead as Busch fell to fourth.
Kenseth, Gordon and Busch finished one-two-three in the third segment.
Most of the lead cars did a no-tire stop, but Kenseth received a penalty for speeding and was sent to the tail end of the longest line. Gordon was second off pit lane and inherited the lead after the Kenseth penalty.
Again, Gordon got a slow restart and both Harvick and Jeff Burton flew past the No.24 Chevy. Two laps later, Kurt and Kyle Busch got together and spun each other into the outside wall to bring out a caution flag.
The accident left Harvick, Gordon and Burton up front on the restart. But lurking just behind them was the "King of Lowe's" Johnson. Johnson won the 2003 and 2006 All-Star Challenges along with three Coca-Cola 600s and two fall events.
On the next restart, Gordon came up with a left-rear tire problem and fell by the wayside moving Johnson up to third place. The No.48 eased his way into second with 13 laps to go and half-a-lap later caught Harvick. Johnson sat on Harvick's bumper as the laps dwindled down.
Five laps to go and Harvick and Johnson were joined by Martin for a three-way shootout. With two laps, Harvick owned three-tenths of a second lead on Johnson and Martin had fallen off the pace. Johnson made a run on the outside as they made the final turn for home, but Harvick fought him off and took the victory.
"Jimmie and I raced hard and he taught me something there getting into turn three - I was way overdriving it," said Harvick. "I just have to thank everyone on this team."
