Purvis is rock solid at Pikes Peak

By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
July 30, 2001
9:44 AM EDT (1344 GMT)

FOUNTAIN, Colo. -- So much for the unemployment line.

Jeff Purvis celebrates in Victory Lane.

Just weeks after officials at Joe Gibbs Racing informed Jeff Purvis his services were no longer needed for their NASCAR Busch Series program, the series veteran picked himself up, hopped into a formerly winless racecar and took a famished team to the Promised Land.

Purvis, 42, left JGR three weeks ago in the wake of a fruitless sponsorship hunt that forced the Gibbs organization to discontinue one of its two NBS teams. He resurfaced two weeks ago in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after Mike Skinner was injured in a crash during the Winston Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.

NAPA 250 Results  Busch Series Standings  Purvis' 2001 Stats  Skinner stays optimistic  Video: Victory Lane  Video: Purvis builds lead  Video: Harvick's odyssey  Get NASCAR gear!  Purvis ponders future

He hasn’t disappointed. Purvis dominated the mid-to-late stages of Saturday’s NAPA AutoCare 250 at Pikes Peak International Raceway, building up to a 16-second lead over second-place Jeff Green en route to his first series win since Aug. 17, 1996 at Michigan International Speedway, a span of 122 races.

With the win, Purvis secured the No. 21 “for a good while,” according to former No. 21 Chevrolet driver-turned-team manager Mike Dillon. Dillon confirmed that Purvis will man the car next weekend at Indy.

“That was one great racecar right there,” Purvis said, attempting to wipe the smile off his face. “I just have to thank Richard Childress for giving me a chance. I knew this team was good, but didn’t know they were that damn good.

Jeff Purvis lights up the tires to celebrate snapping a 122-race winless streak.

"Rockwell needed to win, Jeff Purvis needed to win and my kids back home needed a win. My family doesn’t get to see much of me and I was beginning to wonder about my career, where it was going. But hell, then I get in a car like this, wow.”

Purvis took the lead with a daring three-wide pass at the start/finish line on lap 127 and never looked back, only surrendering the point for a few laps during a cycle of green flag pit stops. By lap 175, he was back out front and held the top slot the rest of the way.

“(Crew chief) Gil (Martin) told me how good this car was gonna be, but I had no idea,” Purvis said. “That’s what it’s like working with a team like this. It’s a lot of fun to sit out there and just ride like that.

“I didn’t think I’d win this soon, though. I didn’t know what was to come, I knew when (Dillon and Childress) called about diving this car, that I had a chance to get back to Victory Lane. I’m so glad they made that call.

Jeff Purvis passes Tim Fedewa on his way to victory.

"When they told me I had a 14-second lead today, I thought I had to wake up, it was like a dream.”

With Purvis having checked out so far ahead of his competitors, the most intriguing duel over the final 50 laps was waged between series points leader Kevin Harvick and 2000 series champion Jeff Green. Green, who seemed to handle lapped vehicles just a bit better, won the battle but gained just five points on Harvick.

Harvick started the race dead last after missing every practice and qualifying, but was in the top 10 by lap-54. From there, he set his crosshairs on the top five, and found himself there by the final stages of the event.

He now leads the championship race by 163 points over second place Greg Biffle.

“That’s quite an accomplishment for this team, to come back like that,” said the ever-smiling Harvick. “That’s not a bad day (with) no practice. We’ll definitely take that.”

Kevin Harvick moved from 43rd to third by the end of the day.

Following the race, Harvick hopped on a plane and headed back to Pocono, Pa., in preparation for the Winston Cup race he’ll compete in Sunday. He said he assumes he’ll arrive in Pocono somewhere around midnight ET.

He appeared exhausted, and even said he got just three hours of sleep Friday night, but quickly shot down any thought of fatigue.

“I don’t get tired,” he bluntly stated.

The race included just one caution, and oddly enough, Purvis was just one of two cars to hit the wall. Purvis tagged the wall 10 laps in on “just a damn stupid mistake,” the driver said after the race.

Jason Keller finished fourth Saturday, while Biffle battled an extremely loose condition all day to post a fifth-place finish.