The biggest problem Kevin Harvick had all day at the Brickyard 400 was when his right rear tire blew and the fender flew off while he did victory spinouts after the race.
The big celebration was well-deserved. Harvick turned a tight race into a runaway Sunday, pulling away in the last 10 laps for the biggest win of his budding NASCAR career.
"I don't even know if I can explain it. It's so awesome," Harvick said after climbing from his car in Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He took over at the end of the 160-lap race. Harvick was second, battling Jamie McMurray for the lead and trying to hold off Winston Cup points leader Matt Kenseth and Robby Gordon on a frantic restart with 16 laps remaining, when a multicar crash broke out behind the leaders.
The green flag came back out on lap 151, and Harvick got a great jump. He was 10 car-lengths ahead of second-place Gordon at the end of that lap and just kept racing away. Harvick wound up 2.754 seconds -- about 20 car-lengths -- ahead of runner-up Kenseth, who grabbed second place on lap 157, passing McMurray as Gordon faded.
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