Harvick moves on to next round in Chase with Charlotte win

Oct 12, 2014 - 6:00 AM Concord, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Harvick punched his ticket into the Eliminator Round -- the third round in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship -- by winning Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Harvick led 162 of 334 laps, including the final 16. The eighth and final caution for an incident involving Brian Vickers set up a two-lap shootout to the finish around this fast 1.5-mile track. Harvick easily pulled away from the field after the last restart. He beat second-place finisher Jeff Gordon to the line by 0.6 seconds.

It was the third win of the season for Harvick but his first time in victory lane for a Sprint Cup Series race since April at Darlington. He joined Joey Logano as those drivers who have clinched a spot in the Eliminator Round. Logano won last weekend's race at Kansas.

"All in all, it's a great night for us," Harvick said. "We just hit a home run and made it all happen. Great time of year to do it."

While Harvick was celebrating in Charlotte's Victory Lane, tempers flared in the garage area where Denny Hamlin had to be restrained from getting into a physical altercation with Brad Keselowski, and then moments later, Matt Kenseth and Keselowski were involved in a brawl in between a pair of Team Penske haulers.

During the final two laps, Keselowski and Hamlin had tangled multiple times while battling for position. Keselowski retaliated against Hamlin after the checkered flag had waved, on the cool-down lap, by bumping him from behind and attempting to spin him out.

Keselowski also ran into the back of Kenseth, who is Hamlin's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, as they were coming onto pit road following the cool-down lap. Then Keselowski hit the rear of Tony Stewart's car. Stewart retaliated by putting it in reverse and slamming into the front end of Keselowski's vehicle.

After Hamlin got out of his car in the garage area, several of his crew members as well as NASCAR race officials had to hold back Hamlin from charging after Keselowski.

"(Keselowski) just plowed into us," Hamlin said. "He's just out of control. He's desperate, obviously, and it's either four or five of us are wrong or he's wrong because he's (ticked) off with everyone. Just disappointing. We're trying to get in this deal. We're sitting in a decent spot, but we've lost six spots or so with the last restart when he ran into us and knocked us up the track. That was unfortunate."

When Keselowski had walked away from the scene and was between the haulers, Kenseth came running out of nowhere and managed to put Keselowski in a headlock before Kenseth's team members were able to pull him away.

Kenseth was furious that Keselowski had hit his car, which could have injured him.

"I had my HANS (Head and Neck Support device) off and my seat belts off, and (Keselowski) clobbers me at like 50 (mph)," Kenseth said. "With the accidents and stuff that we've had around here - the race is over, and we're trying to come back to pit road. If he wants to come and talk about it like a man, then go do that, but to try to wreck somebody on the racetrack and to come down pit road with other cars and people standing around, with my seat belts off and drive into the side of me is just inexcusable. There is no excuse for that. He's supposed to know better than that."

It had already been a tough night for Kenseth at Charlotte, as he had to begin this 500-mile race from the rear of the field due to his team making an unapproved adjustment to his car prior to the start of the event. Kenseth ended up finishing 19th.

Keselowski had been running in the top-10 prior to the final restart, but he got shuffled back in the field and wound up finishing 16th.

"Through the whole sequence of events - I think the 20 car (Kenseth) got in back of me on one of the restarts, but it was just a racing deal, and I wasn't mad at him," Keselowski said. "But when the last yellow came out, he got the wave-around, and when he came by, he swung at my car and tore the whole right- front off of it. When we restarted fifth with no right-front on it, we fell all the way back to 16th, and it ruined our day. That gave us a big Chase hurt.

"Then for some reason after the race, the 11 (Hamlin) stopped in front of me and tried to pick a fight. I don't know what that was all about, and he swung and hit at my car, so I figured if we're gonna play car wars under yellow and after the race then I'll join too. Those guys can dish it out, but they can't take it. I gave it back to them, and now they want to fight, so I don't know what's up with that."

Jimmie Johnson, the six-time and defending series champion, finished 17th, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and NASCAR fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. placed 20th. The gear shifter in Earnhardt's car broke early in the race, forcing him to pit multiple times for repairs on it. He eventually fell one lap behind.

"The vibration broke the shifter in half, and it just wasn't a good night," Earnhardt said. "The car just wasn't handling well, and the vibration was really giving us a lot of problems."

The Oct. 19 race at Talladega is the elimination race in the Contender Round. After Talladega, the Chase field will be trimmed from 12 drivers to eight. The Eliminator Round begins with Martinsville on Oct. 26 and includes Texas (Nov. 2) and Phoenix (Nov. 9) before the Nov. 16 season-finale at Homestead, where four drivers will battle for the Sprint Cup championship.

"This was the night that we needed to win," Harvick said of his victory at Charlotte. "I don't want to go to Talladega next week."

Heading into Talladega, Kenseth is ninth in the Chase point standings, only one point behind eighth-place Kasey Kahne, who finished 10th. Keselowski is ranked 10th (19 points behind Kahne), followed by Johnson (-26) and Earnhardt (-26).

Johnson and Earnhardt are now faced with a must-win situation at Talladega.

"This (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports) team loves adversity," Johnson said. "This team thrives on it. There's no quit in us, so we'll keep digging. We will continue to do so in Talladega."

Jamie McMurray, who is not in the Chase, finished third, followed by Logano and Kyle Busch, the pole sitter. Logano holds a six-point lead over Busch in the Chase.

Rookie Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards and Hamlin placed sixth through ninth, respectively.

Harvick's win moved him up to third in points (-7), followed by Newman (-11), Edwards (-12), Gordon (-14) and Hamlin (-15).