NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Coverage From Atlanta

Kevin Harvick Wins One For Dale Earnhardt

HAMPTON, Georgia - Perhaps Kevin Harvick's first NASCAR Winston Cup victory in only his third start was aided by a higher power.

At least Jeff Gordon thinks so.

"I gave it my best effort, and it was a close one," said Gordon, after finishing .006-seconds behind Harvick in a side-by-side battle to the checkered flag. "I think there was a higher power watching over us today that wanted to see this outcome and I couldn't be more pleased. There is nobody that I would want to finish second to today rather than that team right there."

Harvick scored his first Winston Cup win in only his third start driving a race car previously driven by a man who made the No. 3 famous - the late Dale Earnhardt. Harvick won the race with two daring three-wide moves, the first on lap 320 when he went to the inside of race leaders Dale Jarrett and Jerry Nadeau and the second on the 321st lap when he dove to the inside to take the lead at the start/finish line.

On the third lap of the race, Earnhardt was remembered in a tribute with many of the 100,000 fans at Atlanta Motor Speedway standing with three fingers held in the air. And, for the third race in a row, the third lap was run under caution.

It also helped NASCAR Winston Cup move on after dealing with the death of Dale Earnhardt.

"It's a very emotional time for me and our race team," Childress said. "We have done a lot of praying together and working together. To have Kevin step in and do the job, the biggest relief is letting this race team go on like Dale and I had planned - to get a driver in this race car who could go out and win.

"I know he would be happy with what we had today. We built this team together. Dale was a huge part of building this race team and he really liked Kevin Harvick.

"Dale is up there smiling right now. The last few laps when we got the lead, I looked up in the sky and said, `We need your help, old buddy.' He was there. I can see his mustache break out with that big old smile right now."

The 25-year-old Harvick is the fifth driver to win in his third career NASCAR Winston Cup start. He joins Bob Flock in 1949, Johnny Mantz in 1950, Bill Norton in 1951 and Dan Gurney in 1963. Johnny Rutherford (1963) and Jim Roper (1949) are the only drivers to win in their first start in NASCAR history.

Harvick's victory is the earliest in a career in the modern era, surpassing Mark Donohue's victory in his fifth race at Riverside, California in 1973.

The driver won in dramatic fashion when he edged Jeff Gordon in a side-by-side battle that ended by about four inches.

"About halfway down the back straightaway, I asked, `Who won?'" Harvick recalled. "I didn't expect to win in my third time out. I'm still sitting here wondering if I should jump up or down, or jump off a building. It's a pretty cool feeling to have."

Despite missing a race - the Daytona 500 when Earnhardt was still the driver - Harvick is 11th in the NASCAR Winston Cup points, 170 points behind Gordon the leader.

"I'm just thrilled, Dale Earnhardt helped us win this one," Childress said. "With everything that has happened to this race team since Daytona, it's been an emotional deal for all of us. It's been the toughest thing we have all gone through and Kevin really made it easier for this race team. I never thought of myself as being emotional, but I found out how soft I really am.

"To know that we won the race was the greatest feeling I've had in weeks."

The victory came just three weeks after Earnhardt was killed in the last turn of the last lap of the Daytona 500.

"I took an extra lap afterwards to get the emotional part out of the way, then to pull into victory lane and see all those guys that have put their arms out and supported me through the hardest situation of their life and of my life," Harvick said. "Without the support of all those people, it couldn't have happened. The experience we have on this race team has Kevin Harvick up here now."

Jerry Nadeau was third followed by Dale Jarrett and Terry Labonte. Harvick averaged 143.268 miles per hour in a Chevrolet and won $158,427.

Ironically, Earnhardt won this race last year in similar fashion when he defeated Bobby Labonte by eight inches.

"I don't know how you could script it any different," Harvick said. "I didn't expect this so soon, with the unfortunate circumstances, all I can say is this one is for Dale.

"The car was tight and I didn't know if we could do it, but we never gave up. I think somebody was watching over us."

Harvick took the lead when he went three-wide with Nadeau and Jarrett four laps from the finish. He was able to pull ahead until Gordon pulled even with him in the fourth turn of the last lap. Gordon pulled even and lost the race by just a few inches.

"We rode around for 450 miles and it was finally time to give it everything we had," Harvick said. "I had momentum and nine times out of 10, you won't lose that fight. It has never been my nature to give and that is the biggest thing I've learned at Richard Childress Racing - give it all you can give - and today it happened to be for the win."

While Harvick's victory provided closure to one of the darkest periods in NASCAR Winston Cup racing with Earnhardt's death, it won't erase the memory of the legendary driver.

"Why does the sport have to move on without the memory of Dale Earnhardt?" Gordon asked. "I think that is always going to be a presence forever. Certainly in my mind, he is and I don't think there is any reason why the sport can't continue to be successful and entertain people and have great races.

"I don't see the sport ever going on without Dale. I think he will always be a part of it."