Harvick wins wild Bud Shootout

Just like he did just under two years ago when he passed Mark Martin in the Daytona 500 to take his most recent points victory, Harvick made the right moves to overtake the leading car of McMurray on the backstretch just before the yellow and chequered flags waved simultaneously at the end of the 75-lap event.

Denny Hamlin gave the crucial push to Harvick on the last lap, but in the end Hamlin was one of several cars involved in a multi-car incident in turns three and four, which forced the race to finish under caution, earlier incidents having brought the pace car out for a total of eight times.

Harvick became the fifth driver in the history of the Shootout to win by leading just the last lap, which was also how he won the Daytona 500 in 2007.

"They've got to cancel testing every year if you guys want to see a race like that," Harvick said. "That was a lot of built-up racecar drivers that were really looking for something to hang out on the edge and I think everybody got a good show tonight.

"Our car was a little bit tore-up before we even got to the 25-lap mark and fixed it. Then I got stuck behind the 55 (Michael Waltrip), I don't know if he blew up a tyre or something, lost the draft but we came in, put tyres (on) and worked our way back up to the front.

"On the last restart we wound up restarting fourth and then the 11 (Hamlin) gave me one final shot there on the backstretch and we were able to get by the 26 (McMurray)."

McMurray was disappointed to have lost victory after looking the strongest car in the last part of the race. He tried to block Harvick's move but lamented leaving enough of an opening for the RCR driver to dive to his outside and take the lead.

"When I saw the 29 (Harvick) coming I moved up and I thought I was high enough," McMurray said. "I didn't think there was room between him and the wall and he just snuck in there. You feel like a sucker when you're in the front of this deal."

Tony Stewart profited from the last-corner incident to move up to third by the flag, earlier leading his first few laps driving for his own team.

Involved in that final wreck, which was triggered by Casey Mears, were Hamlin, defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, who were both among the front-runners all night.

Meanwhile Jeff Gordon was able to avoid the last-lap crash to finish fourth behind Stewart, with AJ Allmendinger rounding up the top five.

Besides the spectacular finish, the race was action-packed from the early going and as soon as lap five the caution flag waved for the first time when Robby Gordon got into the back of David Ragan's car, igniting an incident that involved five cars, including those of both rookie of the year candidates Joey Logano and Scott Speed, whose races were over on the spot.

Another incident between David Reutimann and David Stremme brought the caution out a second time right before the first 25-lap segment ended with Carl Edwards leading before the race was stopped for ten minutes ahead of the second 50-lap portion.

The final segment saw Dale Earnhardt Jr take over the lead until he lost the draft and had to go to the back of the pack. His race then came to a sudden halt only ten laps from the end, when Paul Menard lost control of his car and made contact with Earnhardt's while exiting turn four.

The race saw a record 23 lead changes among 14 different drivers in one of the most eventful editions in the history of the event.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   78
 2.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        78
 3.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   78
 4.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   78
 5.  AJ Allmendinger     Dodge       78
 6.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       78
 7.  Carl Edwards        Ford        78
 8.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        78
 9.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       78
10.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      78
11.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      78
12.  Paul Menard         Ford        78
13.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      78
14.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   77
15.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   77
16.  David Stremme       Dodge       73
17.  Greg Biffle         Ford        72
18.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   64
19.  Bobby Labonte       Ford        63
20.  David Reutimann     Toyota      56
21.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       54
22.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      43
23.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       36
24.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   32
25.  Scott Speed         Toyota       4
26.  David Ragan         Ford         3
27.  Robby Gordon        Dodge        3
28.  Joey Logano         Toyota       3