Harvick survives to win wild NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet, poses in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26:  Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet, poses in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina.  (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
CONCORD, NC – MAY 26: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevrolet, poses in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Kevin Harvick can now add the label of survivor to his resume after winning a wild crash filled and bizarre Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Harvick avoided multicar accidents and even a TV cable that took out many of the favorites to assume command of NASCAR’s longest race in the closing laps. Anyway, if you want to add some action while watching the race I could say betting on Nascar would be a great idea.

Harvick took the lead from Kasey Kahne who was the dominate driver for most of the marathon event that saw four red flags and eight cautions. The key to victory came on the final caution with 18 to go when Kahne who led a race high 161 laps to that point, elected to stay out. The field behind him, including Harvick, came in with Harvick taking only two tires and coming out second.

“It was definitely our race to lose, especially those last hundred laps,” Kahne said. “We just thought that some of the guys would stay out. I think there’s three cars that just pitted within the last couple laps, five or six laps, just felt like they’d stay out and that would be a big enough buffer to someone who had two or four tires that we could get away. Didn’t happen.” MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.