Kevin Harvick Survives Wrecks to Win Wild Race at Daytona

Fireworks were the order of Saturday night -- and early Sunday morning -- at Daytona, as Kevin Harvick stayed in front of multiple wrecks and held off Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon to win the Coke Zero 400.

Harvick, who was getting drafting help from Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for much of the race, took the checkered flag moments after Bowyer went sliding out of control during the green-white-checkered finish.

It was the second victory of the year for Harvick, both of which have come in restrictor plate races. Harvick, the Sprint Cup points leader, also won at Talladega.

"At the end we saw the big wreck and were fortunate to be out in front of it," said Harvick, who experienced sweet redemption for what he believed was a missed opportunity in the Daytona 500 when he finished seventh in another green-white-checkered finish.

Until the final lap, he thought he might have to settle for second place, behind Bowyer.

"At that point, it was every man for himself with the double-file restarts and the way things shook out," Harvick said. "You just hope your line goes faster than the other line and fortunately tonight we were on the right line on the bottom ... Daytona has been one of those magical places for us,"

Most of the night it seemed like anybody's race until the RCR cars of Harvick, Bowyer (who finished 17th) and Jeff Burton (fifth) asserted a degree of dominance, in part because they were able to dodge most of the mayhem that brought out nine caution flags, including a 19-car pile-up that produced a red flag stoppage of almost 20 minutes with 12 laps to go.

There were 18 different race leaders (17 by Lap 120), a record for the July race at Daytona. It also featured 47 lead changes, second-most in race history.

Bowyer had wrestled the lead from Gordon when a wreck involving Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr. and Elliott Sadler-- all battling for position in the top 10 -- brought out the caution that necessitated the green-white-checkered finish.

But Harvick got the jump on the final re-start and neither Kahne nor Gordon could catch him. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won Friday night's Nationwide race, said he felt fortunate to finish fourth with an ill-handling car.

It was a clean race until a caution for debris on Lap 59. But from that point on it was a wild one.

Kyle Busch was leading the race for a 23rd lap before wrecking on Lap 105. Busch, who came across the front of Juan Pablo Montoya and went head-first into the wall, said Montoya didn't make contract but didn't give him enough space taking the air off his rear quarter panel.

It was similar to the incident in which Busch sent teammate Denny Hamlin spinning in Thursday's practice.