Notebook: Harvick sitting pretty after others have trouble

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(June 20, 2010)

SONOMA, Calif.—Kevin Harvick helped himself with a third-place finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

What helped the NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader more was the extreme misfortune that befell his closest pursuers in the standings.

Kyle Busch, second to Harvick entering Sunday’s race, was clobbered in a wreck at the end of the esses on Lap 10 and finished 39th. Denny Hamlin, a five-time winner in the previous 10 races and third coming to Infineon, sustained front-end damage shortly thereafter and drove blind for a lap when the hood of his Toyota came unpinned and covered the windshield. Hamlin finished 34th.

Kurt Busch, fourth in points after last week’s race at Michigan, was the victim of a pileup on a restart with five laps left and limped home in 32nd. Even Matt Kenseth found misfortunate late in the race. He finished 30th and dropped two spots in the standings to seventh.

That left Harvick with a 140-point lead over Jimmie Johnson, who moved into second with Sunday’s win at Infineon. It also left Harvick with considerable breathing room.

“We’re fortunate to be where we’re at in the points right now,” said Harvick, who leads Kyle Busch—now third—by 141 points with 10 races left before field is set for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. “We’re able to race hard every lap and really not have to worry about what’s going on with the points.”

Jeff Gordon: ‘I made a lot of guys mad today’

Jeff Gordon may have finished fifth Sunday, but running up front didn’t exempt the four-time champion from frequent run-ins with other drivers. Gordon turned aggressive, because that was the nature of the race.

“It was pretty wild and crazy—I made a lot of guys mad today,” said Gordon, who gained two positions to fifth in the standings.

One of those guys was Martin Truex Jr., who Gordon turned during a stack-up after a restart on Lap 61 of 110. Gordon took responsibility for the incident.

“On the restarts, you just got used up,” Gordon said. “Guys making it three wide—and I’m as guilty of it as anybody. After they started doing it to me, I had to do it to others. There’s some things that I’m not proud of that I did today, certainly with Martin. I mean, I completely messed that up, and I’ll try to patch that up.

“He should be (upset), you know. And whatever is coming back to me, I understand. When you blatantly get into a guy like that, you can say you are sorry all you want, and I certainly had no intentions on what happened with him.

“I have the No. 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) behind me, dive-bombing me into the braking zone, and where I made a mistake is trying to out-brake him. I’ll try and explain that to Martin. I feel terrible because Martin races a lot of guys clean out there. He had a good run going, and I ruined that for him.”

Shuffled back in the field, Truex was wrecked on a restart on Lap 67 and finished 42nd.

NASCAR loses a pioneer

NASCAR lost a historic figure Sunday with the passing of Raymond Parks, who had been the last living participant in the 1947 meeting at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla., at which Bill France Sr.’s vision of a national stock car racing sanctioning body began to take shape.

“The NASCAR community is saddened by the passing of Raymond Parks,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said. “Raymond was instrumental in the creation of NASCAR as a participant in the historic meeting at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach.

“He was also our first championship owner. Raymond is a giant in the history of NASCAR and will always be remembered for his dedication to NASCAR.”

Parks, 96, was one of 25 finalists for the first class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He visited the Hall of Fame before its opening last month. A car he owned, a 1939 Ford Coupe, is the first car featured in the Glory Road display at the Hall of Fame. It is the car Red Byron drove to victory in NASCAR’s first race on Feb. 15, 1948. 

Instant Bowyer fan

Grand marshal Roger Craig left no doubt as to his favorite for Sunday’s race.

“No. 33, of course—Clint Bowyer,” said Craig, who won three Super Bowls wearing No. 33 as a running back for the San Francisco 49ers.

Craig spent time with Bowyer before the race and was impressed by the driver’s interaction with fans.

“He’s just so friendly with fans and the media,” Craig said. “As an ex-football player, we don’t go into that mode. We get into our zone, and we have earphones on and quiet and no talking. NASCAR guys are really amazing that they can go off and do these kinds of things and then go out on the track and really turn it on.”

Craig’s support didn’t help Bowyer on Sunday. The No. 33 Chevrolet suffered a litany of troubles and finished 31st.