While it is still a long shot for Kevin Harvick to win the Sprint Cup Championship he did all he could to improve his position by winning the AdvoCare 500 in Phoenix. Kevin had the NASCAR Gods looking over him as race leader Carl Edwards ran out of gas with about a lap and a half to go until the finish.

After the race Kevin had this to say.”Yeah, it’s always fun to come to Phoenix, and we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of success here in all the divisions, and today was no different. We had a good car and really from the time we unloaded, we qualified well and were able to have three solid practices and a good qualifying session and a good race today.With the way that the strategy and everything worked out today, you just had to play your cards right off the bat, and those guys got a little bit lucky with the way that the strategy worked out. But our car was fast enough to work through traffic and keep ourselves in contention even with the other guys on the other side of that strategy, and we were able to be there at the end. Everyone was able to put just enough gas in the cars to make it to the end, and our guys got it right and the other guys were a little short.”

Kevin will need Jimmie Johnson and the #48 Lowes team to have a bad day to have a shot but stranger things have happened in NASCAR. Kevin’s win put him 34 points behind Jimmie in 3rd place with Matt Kenseth in between them. Johnson can clinch the title with a finish of 23rd or better, 24th if he leads one lap and 25th if he leads the most laps. Heading into the race it was a close between Jimmie and Matt Kenseth but Matt had a bad day and is now 28 points behind. The car never handled well and a distaster of a pit stop late in the race had Matt way back in the field finishing 23rd. With Jimmie Johnson finishing 3rd it was a good points day for Johnson.

Homestead race track hasn’t been kind to Johnson the last two races “Yeah, everybody is so eager to predict the champion, but you’ve got to play the game,” said Johnson, who has finished 32nd and 36th in his last two races at Homestead. “You’ve got to run the race, and stuff happens. There’s so many variables in one of our races — I think more variables than any pro sport out there.

Sunday Was All About The Veterans

Racing on Veteran’s Day weekend is always about saluting our Veterans and for Air Force Sergeant Chad Boley it included a surprise homecoming for him and his family at the race.

Of course with the Veterans weekend we have to throw a shout out to Kurt Busch and his girlfriend Patricia Driscoll who does so much for the military. Patricia is the president of the Armed Forces Foundation.  I had a chance to talk to Patricia and Kurt about the program and they really do a lot to help Veterans.

Photos courtesy of NASCAR Media and Panic Switch Army.

Tagged as: kevin harvick, Phoenix raceway

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