Harvick Wins It by a Nose

Martin Is 0.02 Back in a Crash-Filled Daytona 500 Finish

Photos
Harvick Takes Home the Daytona 500
Kevin Harvick passes Mark Martin on the final lap Sunday in a wreck-filled finish to win the Daytona 500 and deny the 48-year-old Martin his first victory in NASCAR's biggest race.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 18 -- With the coveted Daytona 500 trophy just a half-lap from his clutches after 23 fruitless attempts, all Mark Martin had to do was fend off the furious challenge in his rearview mirror. One of the tiniest men in NASCAR, Martin summoned a giant's courage and made his Chevrolet's bumper as wide as possible as he hurtled toward the final turn of stock-car racing's biggest event.

But it wasn't enough to block the onslaught from Kevin Harvick, 31, who struck like lightning from seventh place to pass him on the high side of the superspeedway's treacherous fourth corner. They drag-raced to the finish as a crash-fest erupted behind them -- racecars caroming like pinballs and spewing smoke and shards of sheet metal -- for one of the wildest finales in NASCAR's history.

Harvick's Chevy was out front by less than a yard when his car crossed the finish, edging Martin by 0.02 of a second to claim the victory and spoil the sentimental finish so many NASCAR fans and racers had hoped to see. But what the finish lacked in sentiment, it more than made up for in Technicolor pyrotechnics, with the Chevy of second-year driver Clint Bowyer crossing the finish Will Ferrell-style, skidding on its hood and erupting in flames.

Bowyer, credited with an 18th-place finish, extricated himself without injury. And like most of the dozen or so drivers involved in the last-lap mayhem, he needed a peek at video replay to figure out exactly what had happened.

"This had to be the wildest Daytona 500 I've ever watched," said Richard Childress, owner of Harvick's winning car. "I kept my eyes shut a little bit."

The outcome wasn't without controversy.

Under NASCAR rules, races are slowed by a caution flag, with the running order frozen, when a car crashes and comes to rest in the racing groove (rather than track apron), posing a hazard to the rest of the field that's whizzing by at top speed.

Martin was leading by inches when the crashing started behind him, and he desperately wanted a caution flag thrown. But NASCAR officials delayed a few seconds, and that's all it took for Harvick to retake the lead, shoving his car's nose past the finish like a sprinter falling into the tape.

"We had him! We had him! I can't believe they waited!" Martin yelled to his crew chief over the radio after crossing the line second. But he reined in his emotions by the time he faced reporters and, in the manner that has earned him such respect in a 30-year racing career, shouldered responsibility for the loss.

"Nobody wants to hear a grown man cry," said Martin, 48, NASCAR's most credentialed bridesmaid as a four-time runner-up for stock-car racing's annual championship. "And I'm not going to cry about it."

Asked if a small part of him didn't wish Harvick hadn't challenged him quite so hard down the stretch, Martin looked incredulous.

"It would have broke me in half," he said. " That's what I love about this sport: because it's so hard. It's what has driven me for over 30 years. And that's why I'm here today."