The Hangover: Budweiser Shootout Goes To Kevin Harvick Again

This Bud apparently isn’t for anyone but Kevin Harvick.

Harvick hogged all the beer for the second straight year, winning the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona on Saturday night in an anti-climactic finish that ended with a caution flag.

Battling the flu, Harvick was forced to miss practice for the Shootout on Thursday; Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer practiced the car for him and promptly wrecked it.

Harvick recovered enough to take the backup to victory lane though, maintaining his spot on the lower lane as Jeff Gordon accidentally spun Greg Biffle on the high side, causing a multi-car wreck and bringing out the final caution.

“It’s a lot of fun to win,” he said. “To go out and have that car start cold and not ever have a lap on the track says a lot about the preparation of the team.”

The No. 29 team couldn’t have had a better start to the season. Harvick’s contract expires at the end of this season, and he has hinted that he may go elsewhere. If Childress wants to keep him, Saturday night was a good start.

Bud-sponsored driver Kasey Kahne was second, and Jamie McMurray – in his return to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing – finished third.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five, followed by Gordon, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Gordon said he certainly didn’t mean to spin Biffle, who had stayed out on old tires and perhaps even had a tire going down. Nevertheless, the wreck took out several cars, including Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte.

“We were pushing him real, real hard,” he said. “At that point, you don’t have a choice – they’re pushing you from behind, and you’re pushing the guy in front of you. And when that’s the situation, you hope that in Greg’s position, you get in there and the car sticks. And it didn’t stick for whatever reason.

“It came around in a hurry, that’s for sure. I was wanting to push him, I wasn’t wanting to spin him.”