Kevin Harvick sped away on fresh tires to win Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 in a green-white-checkered-flag finish.
Kevin Harvick does a burnout as he celebrates winning the Toyota Owner's 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup series auto race at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va., Saturday April 27, 2013. By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
RICHMOND, Va.—Kevin Harvick sped away on fresh tires to win Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 in a green-white-checkered-flag finish at Richmond International Raceway.
Harvick beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line by .343 seconds to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the season, his second at Richmond and the 20th of his career.
Joey Logano ran third, Juan Pablo Montoya came home fourth after leading until the final caution, and Jeff Burton finished fifth after staying out on old tires for the final two-lap run that took the event six laps beyond its posted distance.
When Kyle Busch passed Matt Kenseth for the top spot on Lap 254, that was the first time all evening that a driver other than Kenseth or Bowyer had led a lap. Busch made it stick, leading 39 straight laps under green until Travis Kvapil smacked the wall on Lap 292 to cause the sixth caution of the night.
But brother Kurt Busch won the race off pit road under the yellow and led the field to a restart on Lap 299. Busch held the point during an intense battle against Carl Edwards until NASCAR called the seventh caution on Lap 308 when Kvapil’s car dropped fluid on the track.
Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kenseth and Ryan Newman stayed out under the yellow on 16-lap-old tires. Jimmie Johnson paced the rest of the lead-lap cars to pit road and took two tires. Six laps after a restart on Lap 321, the entire tenor of the race changed dramatically.
After contact with Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota on the restart, Johnson faded on the restart. Running to the inside of Johnson on entering Turn 1 on Lap 327, Tony Stewart slid sideways into Johnson’s Chevrolet. As Johnson slid to the inside of the track in Turn 2, Kyle Busch’s Toyota nosed into him.
That was just the start of frenetic action at the .75-mile high-speed short track. Montoya led a pack of six cars who stayed out under the caution, but on Lap 338, a brutal wreck off Turn 2 involving Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers slowed the field again.
One lap after a restart on Lap 344, Truex spun in Turn 3 while battling Kurt Busch in close quarters for the second position. Montoya retained the lead until Brian Vickers’ wreck on Lap 395 set up the overtime.