Harvick Finishes Fourth at Daytona

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), finished fourth in the rain-delayed Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Sunday night.

The reigning Sprint Cup champion started 34th and managed to race his No. 4 Chevrolet into the second position just before the halfway point of the race, which had begun nearly three hours late due to rain. Harvick ran near the front of the pack for the majority of the second half of the event and put the team in contention for the win late in the race.

With just four laps remaining of the scheduled 160 laps, the caution flag waved for the final time, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Harvick restarted fifth but had advanced a spot as he took the checkered flag. Just past the finish line, Harvick was involved in a wreck that sent several cars spinning on the frontstretch and collected a majority of the lead pack. Harvick was unhurt and credited with a fourth-place finish in a race that ended at approximately 2:40 a.m. EDT.

“There was just a lot of pushing and shoving,” said Harvick, who won the Sprint Cup race at Daytona from the pole position in July 2010. “I just want to thank everybody on my Jimmy John’s team first. I caught the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) there and he had a big piece of damage on the left-rear, but at that point you couldn’t run off, and I finally just snagged him and turned him as he was in the middle of the track. I hate that all happened, but just at the end of the race it becomes pretty aggressive.”

Harvick’s fourth-place finish led the four-car SHR contingent in Sunday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The top-five result was Harvick’s 12th this season and his eighth in 29 career Sprint Cup starts at Daytona.

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