Harvick's first All Star victory adds to his
Daytona 500 spoils and gives his #29 RCR team an immeasurable boost following a year in which, Daytona and Saturday night aside, there have been more downs than ups. For Johnson meanwhile, despite the obvious disappointment at missing out on one of NASCAR's biggest paydays, his recovery from early difficulties once again signals him out as one of the favourites for next Sunday's Coca Cola 600.
For much of the final 10 laps Mark Martin made it a three-way dice for the lead as he used all his veteran guile to keep some extra life in his worn tyres. But the final three laps proved too much for the driver of the #01 Ginn Racing Chevrolet and he was forced to settle for third.
Burton and Tony Stewart completed the top five with surprise package Johnny Sauter sixth after transferring from the Nextel Open. Polesitter Matt Kenseth was seventh after a penalty for speeding on pit road dropped him from the lead to 14th for the start of the final segment while Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Nextel Open winner Martin Truex Jr rounded out the top ten.
Kenseth and Kyle Busch were the leaders at the three segment intervals but the final 20-lap run did for them both with Kenseth being hobbled by his speeding penalty and Busch colliding with his innocent elder brother Kurt while battling for second. Much to the delight of the Charlotte crowd both brothers were eliminated on the spot in a race where both seemed to have cars capable of challenging for the win.
Casey Mears and Denny Hamlin also came to grief in the final segment and retired while Bobby Labonte had a single car crash in turn four at the start of the third segment. The other 16 runners all finished on the lead lap with Kenny Wallace, winner of the Nextel Fan Vote, completing the finishers.
![Kevin Harvick celebrates after winning 2007 Daytona 500 [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289395.jpg)
