Kevin Harvick, who had the most laps led with 82, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Saturday’s Sam's Town 300. This is Harvick’s second win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)By Reid Spencer (Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
The best car in the Sam's Town 300 finally got to the front — just in time to win the race.
Frustrated by slow stops on pit road and a variety of different tire strategies on the part of his competitors, Harvick passed Denny Hamlin for the lead with 25 laps left in Saturday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and pulled away to beat Hamlin by 1.361 seconds.
The victory was Harvick's first of the season and the 35th of his career, second best all-time in NASCAR's Nationwide Series.
Carl Edwards ran third, polesitter Brad Keselowski fourth and Brian Vickers fifth. Trevor Bayne, Justin Allgaier, Paul Menard, Greg Biffle and Steve Wallace completed the top 10. Danica Patrick fell out of the race after a crash on Lap 83 and finished 36th in her final NASCAR race before returning full-time to the IndyCar Series.
Fortunately for Harvick, his No. 33 Chevrolet had enough muscle to overcome what crew chief Ernie Cope termed the team's "worst day ever" on pit road. Harvick lost spots on every exchange of pit stops.
"The car was really fast," said Harvick, who led a race-high 82 laps, most of them early in the race before getting burned by the lackluster work in the pits. "We've definitely got some work to do on pit road, but, fortunately, the car was fast enough.
"I get mad, and they (the crew) know how I am and what I expect of them. … But you can only gripe about it so long, and then you have to go back and drive the car."
Kyle Busch led 43 laps and was chasing Harvick and Hamlin during the final 25-lap green-flag run before contact with the wall in Turn 2 slowed his progress and dropped him to 16th at the finish. Busch, however, had the strongest car at the midpoint of the 200-lap race and led Vickers by 3.537 seconds when NASCAR yellow-flagged the race for the fourth time on Lap 104 because of a light rain shower.
That caution came 21 laps after Patrick's No. 7 Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall, thanks to contact from Michael McDowell's Dodge. Patrick, who pitted for fuel on Lap 17 and ran as high as third during a cycle of green-flag stops, had returned to the track with fresh tires and was closing quickly on McDowell, who was logging laps after blowing a tire and hitting the wall on Lap 16.
As Patrick ducked to the inside to make the pass, McDowell turned down and took away her line.
"Holy (expletive)! He (expletive) turned down," Patrick fumed on the radio right after the wreck. "He's got a broken rear bumper, and he's (expletive) trying to race!"
McDowell took full responsibility for the incident, which relegated Patrick to a 36th-place finish in her final Nationwide race before her scheduled return to the series at New Hampshire in June.
"It was completely 100-percent my fault," McDowell said. "The closing rate was so much, there just wasn't much time to make a decision."
Note: Edwards retained the series points lead by 41 over second-place Keselowski, 48 over Vickers in third and 56 over Allgaier in fourth.
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Unofficial Race Results for the Sam's Town 300 - Saturday, February 27, 2010
Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300 Miles - Purse: $1,479,944
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 2 33 Kevin Harvick Rheem Chevrolet 200 195 10 144.2 $94,795 Running 2 82
2 4 20 Denny Hamlin Interstate Batteries Toyota 200 175 5 122.3 $59,125 Running 1 29
3 3 60 Carl Edwards Copart Ford 200 170 5 117.1 $46,125 Running 2 28
4 1 22 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Dodge 200 165 5 109.5 $45,443 Running 1 1
5 10 32 Brian Vickers Dollar General Toyota 200 160 5 114.7 $31,225 Running 1 1
6 18 99 Trevor Bayne Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 200 150 94.1 $35,343 Running
7 13 12 Justin Allgaier Verizon Wireless Dodge 200 146 104.7 $33,193 Running
8 6 98 Paul Menard Richmond / Menards Ford 200 142 94.7 $25,275 Running
9 9 27 Greg Biffle Redman Moist Snuff Ford 200 143 5 100.8 $24,935 Running 1 1
10 15 66 Steve Wallace 5 Hour Energy Toyota 200 134 93.0 $30,943 Running
11 34 01 Mike Wallace Monster Diesel Chevrolet 200 130 77.0 $29,543 Running
12 31 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 200 127 82.5 $28,993 Running
13 26 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Hotel & Casino Toyota 200 129 5 83.6 $28,443 Running 1 4
14 20 09 Scott Riggs RAB Racing Ford 200 126 5 77.2 $28,333 Running 1 1
15 14 21 John Wes Townley Zaxby's Chevrolet 200 123 5 78.4 $28,523 Running 1 10
16 5 18 Kyle Busch Z-Line Designs Toyota 200 120 5 112.8 $21,995 Running 3 43
17 32 43 Scott Lagasse Jr. Dr. Gadget / everybodygets1.com Ford 200 112 68.5 $27,278 Running
18 22 87 Joe Nemechek FrontRowJoe.com Chevrolet 200 109 68.0 $27,143 Running
19 39 61 Josh Wise Stratosphere Ford 199 106 51.7 $29,433 Running
20 19 70 Shelby Howard ForeTravel Motorcoach Chevrolet 199 103 62.2 $20,755 Running
21 36 24 Eric McClure Hefty Ford 199 100 48.5 $27,663 Running
22 40 34 Tony Raines Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Chevrolet 198 97 43.7 $26,678 Running
23 27 07 Danny Efland Shred 360 / M&W Towing Chevrolet 198 94 50.9 $20,475 Running
24 29 31 Stanton Barrett Fuel-doctor.com Chevrolet 197 91 50.1 $19,965 Running
25 25 05 Willie Allen 31W Insulation / Certainteed Chevrolet 195 88 50.4 $26,733 Running
26 41 23 Robert Richardson Jr. R3 Motorsports Chevrolet 194 85 44.1 $26,163 Running
27 28 40 Mike Bliss Buck Commander / Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet 192 82 57.4 $26,028 Running
28 11 16 Colin Braun # Roush Fenway Ford 170 79 75.0 $26,883 Accident
29 16 1 James Buescher # Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 163 76 74.1 $26,133 Accident
30 7 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Roush Fenway Ford 152 73 59.5 $25,923 Running
31 8 11 Brian Scott # StopRepairBills.com Toyota 144 70 84.9 $19,045 Accident
32 42 26 Brian Keselowski Stratosphere Dodge 132 67 38.0 $25,403 Running
33 23 15 Michael Annett Pilot Travel Centers Toyota 108 64 74.2 $25,293 Transmission
34 38 28 Kenny Wallace Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet 96 61 31.9 $18,715 Engine
35 21 42 Parker Kligerman # Smith Ironworks Dodge 92 58 58.3 $18,605 Transmission
36 37 7 Danica Patrick GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 82 55 54.4 $25,038 Accident
37 24 56 Kevin Lepage Start Natural Energy Drink Chevrolet 32 52 42.5 $18,525 Vibration
38 30 90 Danny O'Quinn Jr. D'Houdt Humphrey Mtrspts Chevrolet 18 49 36.1 $18,490 Electrical
39 33 81 Michael McDowell Monte Carlo Resort & Casino Dodge 18 46 39.8 $24,883 Accident
40 35 10 Chad Blount Braun Racing Toyota 15 43 32.5 $18,380 Overheating
41 43 49 Mark Green Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet 14 40 31.8 $18,320 Rearend
42 12 88 Kelly Bires Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet 5 37 35.9 $24,743 Accident
43 17 96 Dennis Setzer Stratosphere Dodge 2 34 29.9 $18,230 Vibration
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