Kevin Harvick won the exhibition Sprint Unlimited race by dominating the final two segments of Saturday night's Speedweeks opener.
It was Harvick's third win in the last five years in the non-points race at Daytona International Speedway. He held off challenges from Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle on the final lap to win in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.It's a strong opener for what's going to be Harvick's final year with RCR. He's already signed on to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.Harvick broke his engine trying to do a celebratory burnout and had to be pushed to Victory Lane.Biffle was second and Joey Logano third in his Penske Racing debut. Stewart was fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth in his Joe Gibbs Racing debut.Danica tops chartsDanica Patrick was fastest on the first day of Daytona 500 practice, turning a lap of 196.220 mph in the second of Saturday's two practice sessions.The sessions were focused solely on qualifying for the Daytona 500 and her teammate and car owner, Tony Stewart, was second fastest with a lap at 195.363 mph.Kyle Busch was third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth and Jamie McMurray fifth as Chevrolets took four of the top five spots. Juan Pablo Montoya's engine blew during the second practice.Chevy gets changeChevrolet may have pulled out of NASCAR had the sanctioning body not agreed to redesign race cars and make them more relevant to consumers.NASCAR President Mike Helton and Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said they were involved in talks with the American automaker that made it clear things needed to change to keep Chevrolet happy.But Mark Ruess, president of General Motors North America, says the auto giant never threatened to walk.Briefly NHRA Winternationals: Courtney Force raced to the No. 1 qualifying position in Funny Car at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) also will lead their categories into today's eliminations at the NHRA Drag Racing Series season opener. Force grabbed the No. 1 spot in her Ford Mustang with a run of 4.036 seconds at 318.24 mph to take her first No. 1 qualifier at Pomona and third of her career. ARCA Series: John Wes Townley has won his first ARCA Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Townley nudged Bobby Gerhart out of the way with seven laps left and held off Kyle Larson down the stretch on the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway. Gerhart had the dominant car and seemed on his way to winning his ninth ARCA Daytona race.
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