NASCAR: Greatest Finishes of Kevin Harvick’s Career

2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500

Kevin Harvick was hardly known when he had the unfortunate opportunity of being thrust into the seat of the No. 29 GM-Goodwrench Chevrolet in 2001. Harvick was the man Richard Childress chose to replace Dale Earnhardt who had perished in the 2001 Daytona 500.

In a fantastic final ten laps of the race, Atlanta was shaping up to give one of its typical amazing finishes once again. Harvick was sitting in third position when Dale Jarrett passed Jerry Nadeau for the lead with six laps remaining. On the next lap, Harvick passed both drivers in a three wide pass at the start/finish line.

After this move, Harvick began to pull away. Behind him, Jeff Gordon was able to get past Nadeau and Jarrett and begin to reel in Harvick with three laps to go. As Harvick received the white flag, Gordon had cut the distance down to just one car-length.

In turn 3 of the final lap, Harvick went very high and Gordon closed in on the bottom. Coming to the stripe, Harvick held off a hast-charging No. 24 Chevrolet by a mere 0.006 seconds. Not only was the win close, it was a sentimental win, as Harvick brought RCR to Victory Lane in just the third race of his career and the third race without Dale Earnhardt.

See Harvick take the lead and hold it in a fantastic finish at Atlanta, which to this day in the fourth-closest finish in the history of NASCAR:

More racing: NASCAR: Harvick Wins Closest Finish In Phoenix History

Kevin Harvick certainly has given us some of the most memorable finishes in NASCAR history. Sunday’s Good Sam 500 was no different. This flair for the dramatic has given Harvick the nickname “The Closer,” who will definitely give us some more fantastic finishes before he hangs up his helmet.