(By Sarah Farlee Managing Editor, CupScene.com)
Posted: Sunday,February 27th, 2011
Avondale, Ariz., - After a dismal Daytona showing both Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. bounced back with top-10 finishes in Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway – both overcoming a little adversity.
Harvick was involved in the lap 59 incident, spinning as a result of the chain reaction started after Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards made contact. Harvick may have finished fourth but said the day was “weird.”
“We wrecked once and about wrecked again and then got into it with a couple of cars and caved in both front fenders,” Harvick added. “I wish we could have raced the car and not been tore up.”
AVONDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 27: Carl Edwards, driver of the #99 Subway Ford, and Kurt Busch, driver of the #22 Shell/ Pennzoil Dodge, lead the field at the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on February 27, 2011 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Harvick was upset with the team after getting behind after being slow on pit road.
“We got ourselves a little bit behind and then got in a wreck and just had to fight through there at the end,” said Harvick. “The guys on the pit crew can do it, we just got to get the consistency there and we’ll be right where we need to be.”
Earnhardt says the team still has a little ways to go to be exactly where they need to be, but is confident in the direction the efforts are heading with a 10th place finish. Earnhardt said qualifying, and trying to overcome it, was the biggest issue of the day.
“We had a good enough car to run with them guys and kind of proved it in a couple of instances. But, you have to get by them,” said Earnhardt. “You get stuck behind them and it’s hard to really show how good the car is. Every time we passed somebody, we just left them.”
Earnhardt was involved in the lap 67 incident with 13 other cars, but luckily only slight damage to the front end resulted. The biggest challenge was a loose wheel on lap 240 forcing an unscheduled pit stop, one that put them on opposite strategy as the field.
“One of the wheels got real bad,” Earnhardt said. “It was about to come off. We had to come in and get that fixed.”
“I’m really happy with the way we finished and the way we were able to finish the race off,” added Earnhardt. “The guys worked hard and gave us a good strategy to keep us in position all day long and did they best they could.”
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