Kevin Harvick wins Wonderful Pistachios 400 in Sprint Cup Series – NASCAR news
Richard Childress Racing driver Kevin Harvick won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Wonderful Pistachios 400 held this Saturday, September 10, at the Richmond International Raceway, Virginia.
The Wonderful Pistachios 400 is the believed to be the most decisive race of the Sprint Cup Series and hence the most anticipated one as well.
David Reutimann with his Toyota was at the pole earlier on in the qualifiers which was his career’s fourth Cup Series pole. However, historically, P1 has not played a major role in Reutimann’s performance in the race.
In the race that took place under a full moon, Harvick drove his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet to a fantastic finish after the chequered flag dropped. This was Harvick’s fourth win of the season and overall 18th win of his career so
far.
Following him was Carl Edwards who had a close chase and finished off at the second position. The No. 99 Ford driver from Columbia, Missouri was just 0.139 seconds behind Harvick.
Third position was secured by Jeff Gordon, in a race that lasted for 400 laps.
David Ragan and Kurt Busch finished off at fifth and sixth positions respectively.
Stewart Haas Racing team’s Tony Stewart, who is the 2005 Sprint Cup champion, marked a seventh position at Saturday’s race. He was driving a number 14 Chevrolet. His teammate, Ryan Newman, followed him in eighth place.
The ninth and tenth spots were taken by Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin respectively.
An accident occurred at turn 8 that caused a massive pile up of cars. It happened when Clint Bowyer’s car spun while he was racing on the bay with pole-sitter David Reutimann.
With four wins each and tied up at 2,012 points, both Harvick and Busch are the top seeds for this year’s Sprint Cup Series title.
Carl Edwards does not seem too happy with his performance at RIR. In his interview to the official website of NASCAR, he said, “I just didn't get a good enough restart, didn't get by Jeff [Gordon] to have a lap or two once I got to Kevin [Harvick]. We learned
a lesson.”
The ‘chase for the title’ is in full bloom now.
We will have to wait and see how events unfold as ten more races still remain before this year’s NSCS champion is finally gets decided.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is scheduled for Sunday, September 18, 2011 which will be held at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
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