Image via WikipediaThere was no way NASCAR was going to top what happened today at Indy, right? I don't know; they might have pulled it off.
Kevin Harvick came out of nowhere to win Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas the last time down the backstretch.
Just like Indy, it came down to fuel mileage. A lot of cars were running low on gas, and then there's a green-white-checkered finish to push the issue further. Earnhardt and Kasey Kahne were on the front row for the final restart, both a long time past the last win and both running on fumes. Kahne ran out of gas on the restart, stacking up traffic behind him. There were a few cars sliding around and going in the grass, but nobody was hitting much of anything so NASCAR kept it green.
Harvick dove down low around the jam and was suddenly in third. Ahead of him was Denny Hamlin who was trying to chase down Earnhardt. Earnhardt was about a half-mile from breaking a 104-race winning drought. Then, coming down the backstretch for the last time, Earnhardt was suddenly out of gas; Hamlin too, and Harvick scooted by both of them to grab the win. "We'll take them any way we can get them," Harvick said on the radio after the win.
David Ragan finished second, followed by Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and A. J. Allmendinger. Earnhardt coasted home seventh, Hamlin tenth. (Race results)
It looked like Greg Biffle might be headed for a classic Coke 600 victory. His car was junk and the problems were mounting during the day, but when night fell the car came to him and he was gone. But when Jimmie Johnson's engine blew to bring out the final caution with four laps to go, Biffle couldn't go the extra distance and pitted for gas just before the race went green again. During the caution, Harvick got a gas-saving push from his RCR teammates Clint Bowyer and Paul Menard. The green-white-checkered restart extended the race two laps past the regulation 400-lap distance.
Carl Edwards finished 16th, but extended his points lead to 36. Harvick moved up three spots to second. Johnson finished 28th and fell to third, 37 points back. Earnhardt remains fourth, 43 points back. Kyle Busch dropped two spots to fifth, 53 points back. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman round out the top 10. (Points standings)
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