Kevin Harvick tames Darlington in dominating fashion

DARLINGTON, SC - APRIL 12: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Budweiser Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on April 12, 2014 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
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DARLINGTON, SC - APRIL 12:  Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Budweiser Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on April 12, 2014 in Darlington, South Carolina.  (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
DARLINGTON, SC – APRIL 12: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Budweiser Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on April 12, 2014 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

When it goes good for Kevin Harvick it goes really good. After four finishes outside the top 30 in four races since his win at Phoenix earlier in the season, Harvick staged a dominating performance at Darlington Raceway Saturday night to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Southern 500. Harvick was able to survive two green-white-checkered flag attempts, passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the second one, to become NASCAR’s first two-time winner in 2014.

It was Harvick’s first career win at Darlington. He was also the first polesitter to win at Darlington since 1997.  Earnhardt Jr. held on for second, Jimmie Johnson was third, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.

The key to victory came on the eighth caution came with less than 10 laps to go erasing Harvick’s lead of just over a second and a half over Johnson. On the ensuing stops, Johnson and Earnhardt took only two tires and beat Harvick, who had taken four, out of the pits.  Soon after the restart, the first of two green-white-checkered periods came out with Harvick eventually coming out on top.  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.