Kevin Harvick scooped a cool one million dollars on Saturday night at the Lowe's Motor Speedway by holding off Lowe's master Jimmie Johnson to win the annual Nextel All Star Challenge.
After a great start to the fourth and final 20-lap green flag segment around the always difficult 1.5-mile Lowe's tri-oval Harvick vaulted from third to first with a superb double pass on teammate Jeff Burton and erstwhile leader Jeff Gordon and then survived a pair of restarts on lap 62 and 64 to keep a charging and freshly tyred Johnson at bay through a nail biting final ten laps.
Although Harvick, who chose not to take any new tyres during the mandatory pitstop between segments three and four of the non-championship event, looked like a sitting duck as Johnson closed onto his rear bumper with ten to go, somehow the driver of the #29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet held the #48 Hendrick Chevrolet at bay.
Johnson, who had been forced onto an alternative pit strategy early in the event after some contact on pit road, started the final segment in tenth place, with the nine drivers who chose not to take fresh tyres ahead of him. Helped significantly by the lap 62 crash between brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch Johnson was fourth by lap 64 and made quick work of Gordon and Burton before closing in on Harvick.
For several laps it appeared as if Harvick would be powerless to stop the rapidly advancing Johnson but by clinging resolutely to the low line at both ends of the track Johnson's charge was stymied and between laps 75 and 78 he was even able to pull away again.
However at a track where he already holds no less than five points scoring victories and a pair of Challenge wins Johnson was always going to give it one last shot and going into turn three for the final time the reigning Nextel Cup Series champion drove as hard and as high as possible into the corner, briefly getting his front bumper in line with Harvick's rear before finally washing out and conceding victory.
![Kevin Harvick celebrates after winning 2007 Daytona 500 [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289395.jpg)
