Last-lap pass gives Harvick win at Fontana

Last-lap pass gives Harvick win at Fontana

(March 27, 2011)
FONTANA, Calif.—With a last-lap pass of Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick won Sunday’s Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway.
Harvick, who restarted fifth with nine laps remaining, surged to the front on the final two laps, passing Kyle Busch and Johnson in the process. The victory was Harvick’s first of the season and the 15th of his career.
Johnson ran second, followed by Busch, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman. Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne and polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top 10.
A caution on Lap 185, after Bobby Labonte blew a right front tire and slammed the Turn 4 wall, meant decision time for the crew chiefs. With Labonte’s wrecked car blocking the entrance to pit road, the pits remained closed until Lap 189, when Labonte’s car was dragged to the garage by a wrecker.
Busch, Johnson, Tony Stewart, Bowyer, Harvick, Newman and Edwards all stayed on the track during the caution, with Kenseth leading a group of cars to pit road. Stewart faded to 13th at the finish.
After a cycle of stops that began when Busch pitted from the lead on Lap 138, Busch held a 6.5-second lead over Stewart, who began to make up ground throughout the ensuing green-flag run. Stewart had erased all but 1.3 seconds of Busch’s advantage when another cycle of green-flag stops widened the lead to 2.5 seconds.
Andy Lally’s spin off Turn 4 on Lap 170, however, brought out the third caution of the race and bunched the field for a restart on Lap 175 of 200. Busch and Stewart took the green flag side-by-side, with Busch in the outside lane, and the driver of the No. 18 Toyota pulled away to a half-second lead within three laps.
By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service