Busch Champ Harvick Finished Sixth Saturday Night at Homestead

Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick and the No. 21 U.S. Coast Guard team capped off an unbelievable season with a celebration fit for a king Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Despite clinching the title last month at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Harvick had to wait until after the Ford 300 to be presented with his hardware. He was unable to tie Sam Ard’s record of 10 wins in a single-season but he did “settle” for a dominating nine wins, 23 top-five and 32 top-10 finishes.

With all the above accomplishments, it seemed like Harvick had done everything possible this season but one thing was lacking from his resume, a NASCAR Busch Series pole award. However, the 26-time NASCAR Busch Series winner checked that one off the list, too, when he was able to tour the 1.5-mile south Florida track in 30.986 sec. (174.272 mph).

At the drop of the green flag, Harvick was able to break away from the pack and pull out to a five-car length lead by the time the field crossed the start/finish line to complete the first lap. When the second caution flag of the race flew on lap 46, Harvick had faded back to fourth in the running order. He informed his crew that the car was suffering from a tight-handling condition exiting the corners, forcing him to wait too long to get back to the throttle.

Crew chief Shane Wilson summoned Harvick to pit road three laps later, calling for fresh tires as well as air pressure and chassis adjustments to help ease the car’s tight condition. A lighting-fast pit stop by the No. 21 pit crew allowed Harvick to restart back in the top spot on lap 52.

Three caution flags flew over the speedway in the next 14 laps and Harvick was unable to see if the changes Wilson made to his Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS had made a difference. After the restart on lap 74, Harvick was able to build a 1.3-second lead over second place Matt Kenseth. Unfortunately, the tight conditions returned and Harvick lost the lead on lap 91 to Kenseth.

Green flag pit stops began on lap 115 and Wilson called Harvick to pit road two laps later running in the seventh spot. The No. 21 Coast Guard crew made an air pressure adjustment and changed four tires, sending Harvick back in the 16th position. Once the green flag stops cycled through, Harvick was racing in the sixth spot.

The fourth caution flag of the race flew on lap 168 and Wilson summoned Harvick to pit road for one last round of adjustments. Wilson called for fresh tires and an air pressure adjustment to hopefully free up the No. 21 Coast Guard Chevy.

However, Harvick was unable to shake off the tight-handling condition and soldiered to a sixth-place finish.

Kenseth won the event followed by Carl Edwards, Paul Menard, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley, respectively.

Harvick’s RCR teammate Clint Bowyer crossed the finish line 11th.

KEVIN HARVICK - NO. 21 COAST GUARD CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO SS
“We’ve enjoyed every minute this year. We have been on the top, we have been on the bottom of things and when you come back to the top the second time you really learn to respect things a lot more. I think the second time around, we’re a lot more aware of how hard thing are to come by in this sport.”