Kevin Harvick won the most exciting finish in the history of the Daytona 500 on Sunday by literally inching out geriatric Mark Martin for the win.
Six years to the day after Dale Earnhardt was killed in a final-lap crash at Daytona, the man who replaced him, Harvick, beat Martin to the line by .02 seconds in a green-white-checkered finish and in doing so won his second race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in two days. Harvick notched his first Daytona triumph in Saturdayโs Orbitz 300 Busch Series race.
Harvick is the driver who replaced Dale Earnhardt with Richard Childress Racing after his passing. So it was a fitting win that he won six years to the date of his death.
Mark Martin was passive, thinking that NASCAR would throw the yellow flag, which cost him the win at Daytona.
โI sorry I let everybody down,โ said a disconsolate Martin. โI was ahead when they started wrecking behind us. If they throw the caution, I win the race. It was in our fingers, and they waited and waited. I didnโt have any pushers behind me, and Kevin had the preferred position.โThe final two-lap dash came after NASCAR red-flagged the race for 11 minutes after Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray and front-row starter Ricky Rudd wrecked on the backstretch.
Top 10 Finishers
โข Kevin Harvick #29โข Mark Martin #01โข Jeff Burton #31โข Mike Wallace #109โข David Ragan #6โข Elliot Sadler #19โข Kasey Kahne #9โข David Gilliland #38โข Joe Nemecheck #13โข David Stremme #40