Harvick learns from 2010 mistake

Kevin Harvick knows that no track owes him one. If he’s going to get a win, he has to earn it.

In February 2010, Harvick wrecked while chasing Jimmie Johnson to the finish with two laps remaining in the race at Auto Club Speedway. On Sunday, he did his best not to repeat that mistake.

"Well, we had them all beat last year here and I gave it away,” Harvick said. “I was at least going to get to the white flag this year and have something left.”

As it turned out, Harvick had enough left to get around Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps to win the Auto Club 400.

“I keep going back to last year,” Harvick said. “Last year taught me a lot about … patience and the things I needed to do to beat a guy that doesn't make mistakes. In order to do that, you can't make mistakes yourself.

“This race one year ago is what helped us win today, by being patient, not taking yourself out of the race, having something there at the end until it was time to go.”

Harvick’s ride was strong enough to advance from his starting position of 24th to 12th in the first 50 laps.

Crew chief Gil Martin made a half-pound change in air pressure following the first pit stop on Lap 67 – the only adjustment Martin made the entire race – and by the second caution on Lap 104, Harvick had advanced to sixth and gained one position as he exited the pits.

Harvick remained within striking distance of the lead car throughout the second half of the race. His team executed solid pit stops and Harvick remained patient as the laps wound down. When Bobby Labonte’s crash brought out the final caution on Lap 186, the top six cars -- including Harvick’s No. 29, which was running fifth -- remained on the track as most of the field elected to pit.

The decision paid off.

“All these guys did a great job on pit road and Gil made the right call,” Harvick said. “when I saw those guys pit at the end, I said 'Man, we might be in deep trouble.' But we held those guys off and our car just kept going."

Using a high line, Harvick methodically knocked off one competitor at a time. With Kyle Busch and Johnson battling side-by-side for the win, slamming the wall in the process, Harvick was able to pounce.

“(Busch) made a couple mistakes, took himself out of contention there at the end,” Harvick said. “That's what I didn't want to do. Maybe his car was just so loose that he was trying to do all he could do to stay up there.

“Our scenario played out better than Jimmie's did with our car being able to run as high as it was and carry as much speed as it was. I just didn't want to be the one to screw it up like I did last year.”

Johnson acknowledged that the No. 29’s proximity to his bumper affected the car and Harvick “did exactly what he needed to do” by using an old-school move to knock the No. 48 out of the way.

“I was on the loose side,” Johnson said. “If I was in his shoes, I would have done the same thing. The closer you can get to the car in front of you when they’re loose, the harder it is for that guy to use the power. You have a good shot to pass them.

“I don’t think he got into me all that hard. I actually put my head back against the headrest and thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was. He did it well. He did his job. I didn’t do mine holding him off. That was racing.”

From a California perspective, the kid from Bakersfield finally beat the kid from El Cajon at their home-state oval. While it took Harvick 18 attempts to bring home the hardware, he took great satisfaction in the accomplishment.

“Those guys are five-time champions, won a ton of races,” Harvick said of Johnson’s 48 team. “We feel as a team we can race right with 'em, but so does everybody else. There's a lot of other guys that think the same thing, but nobody's beat them in five years. We've just got to keep chipping away at it.”

Harvick’s win did just that. Entering the weekend he was 15th in the standings. Now he’s ninth - his best position this season. Harvick led the standings for most of 2010, but Johnson’s team was stronger at the end, winning a fifth straight championship.

Since being thrust into the Sprint Cup Series in 2001, Harvick has made some mistakes. But as he proved on Sunday, the lessons learned can only make him stronger.

SETTLING FOR SECOND

Jimmie Johnson won two of the last four races at Auto Club Speedway but didn’t have enough for Kevin Harvick on Sunday.

On the final restart with eight laps remaining, Johnson lined up second on the inside of Kyle Busch but initially did not anticipate Harvick being a factor at the finish.

“If I could have gotten by (Kyle Busch) a lap sooner maybe that would have made the difference and I would have had enough of a margin to hold off (Harvick), but he was rolling on the top,” Johnson said. “I did all that I could. I was dead-sideways. I think I hit the fence one time off of (turn) two chasing Kyle with the right rear first because it was sliding off the corner.”

NUMBERS GAME

1 — Lap that Kevin Harvick led on the way to his 15th career Cup win

4 — Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets that finished in the top 16

4 — Fords that finished in the top 15

24th — Landon Cassill’s finish Sunday, best of his Sprint Cup Series career

36 — Races since both Red Bull Racing drivers finished in the top 10

151 — Laps Kyle Busch led despite finishing third.

SAY WHAT?

Kyle Busch on getting into the wall on the last lap:

“I had nothing better to do than knock the right side off of the car… just kidding.”