Harvick has just enough juice to win

JOLIET, Ill. -- Kevin Harvick had just enough juice to win the Tropicana 400 on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

	Kevin Harvick finally finds his way back to Victory Lane. Credit: Autostock

Harvick made a gutsy fuel mileage gamble, staying out on the track during the race's final caution with 25 laps to go -- despite having already exhausted 42 laps of that tank of fuel. That decision pushed him from ninth to first -- and effectively to Victory Lane.

Well, Victory Lane in a figurative sense, anyway. Harvick ran out of gas on the front stretch attempting to perform a burnout. Hence, his car was physically unable to go to Victory Lane without the help of a wrecker.

As the final laps wound down and Harvick began to stretch his lead over second-place Jeff Gordon, thoughts of a tumultuous season began to filter through his mind. Could the bad luck continue?

"I was just thinking, is a tire going to go flat, is a motor going to blow, am I going to spin it out? What's going to happen now?" Harvick asked himself. "We just came in in our fuel window, just like Johnny (Sauter) did yesterday. Everything went right."

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The crucial decision to stay out was set up when race leader Ryan Newman blew a right-front tire and Joe Nemechek simultaneously hit the Turn 2 wall with 28 laps remaining.

As the day's final caution waved, race leaders Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all dove to pit road for fuel.

Meanwhile, Harvick cruised into the lead, confident he could make it all the way to the end.

Here's why: After Elliott Sadler's spin in the front stretch brought out the caution with 67 laps remaining, Harvick pitted to change tires and top off the fuel tank in hopes that said situation might unfold.

It did, and Harvick won for the second time in as many races at Chicagoland.

Harvick's win, coupled with Johnny Sauter's win in Saturday's Busch Series race, proved a big lift for all involved at Richard Childress Racing.

"That's great, shows the strength of our organization," Childress said. "When you're down people try to kick you as hard as they can. We knew there was a peak up there and everybody in our organization never gave up. That's what it takes."

Ryan Newman had things going his way until he blew a tire late in the race. Credit: Autostock

"We're just happy to defend anything at this point," Harvick said. "It was really all a matter of track position. Once we got it, from there it was pretty much lights out."

The victory gives Harvick solace that the doubters have been proven incorrect and the critics muted, and serves as proof that the recent crew switch between Harvick's Goodwrench team and Robby Gordon's Cingular team was a worthy decision.

"This is bittersweet -- there's a lot of things that people say and talk about you. But we kept our heads down and kept digging," Harvick said. "We made a big (crew) change there. Everyone thought it'd be better, and in the long run it will be.

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"It's already starting to show. It's been coming. We've had good cars every week, just not the finishes to show for it."

Just prior to Harvick's final stop, he was battling Kurt Busch for track position and got down onto the apron in Turns 1 and 2, lost control of his Chevrolet and shot wildly around back out into oncoming traffic.

Some thought that triggered the crucial caution, but in fact the caution did not fly until Sadler's accident, which also involved Jimmy Spencer and Jerry Nadeau.

"That was a pretty stupid move, in my opinion," said Jeff Gordon of Harvick's attempted pass on the apron. "Unless they put the yellow line down there, guys are going to make those moves. He about took three-quarters of the field out when he did it.

"You've got to give him some credit, though. I don't know how he saved that thing. It was impressive to see him save it, but not impressive to see him do it."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a large lead midway through the event but a late pit stop cost him a top-five finish. Credit: Autostock

"Jeff Gordon got second," Harvick said with a grin. "If he had a little bravery he might have won. If he thinks it's a stupid move, well ... I think it was pretty cool."

Gordon finished second, followed by Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and pole-sitter Newman in the top five.

Mark Martin's ninth-place finish brought him to within 49 points of leader Sterling Marlin in the championship points race. Marlin overshot his pit stall near the midway point of the event. With that comes a one-lap penalty.

He was unable to make up the lost lap and finished 16th, the first car one lap down.

Johnson ranks third in the points hunt, 89 points out of the lead. Fourth-place Gordon is also within 100 points, 95 points behind Marlin.