Kevin Harvick took victory in a Coca Cola 600 marred by a bizarre incident which injured 10 fans.
A Fox TV camera cable broke on lap 123 of the race, resulting in the rope falling down to the circuit and striking several cars and, more worryingly, injuring 10 fans. All injuries suffered were minor and none of the fans required an overnight stay in hospital.
The race was red flagged, with NASCAR allowing teams to work on their cars for 15 minutes due to the obscure nature of the incident.
“Due to circumstances caused by the failed cable drive rope that impacted the flow of the race and caused damage to some of the cars, we felt it was in the best interest of the competitors to display the red flag and allow the teams to come down pit road, service their cars and repair any damage that was caused by the incident,” said NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp.
Kyle Busch was holding the lead at the time of the incident, eventually losing it when the race restarted in the next round of green flag pit stops before falling foul to an engine failure later in the race.
Kasey Kahne was at the top of the field as the final round of green flag pit stops took place with 37 laps to go, before pulling away in to what seemed an unassailable lead.
Kahne’s advantage was wiped out with a late caution for debris, however, with the driver of the #5 being the only one of the leaders opting not to pit for fresh tyres.
Kevin Harvick won the race off pit road, putting him behind Kahne for the late race to the flag. The advantage of fresh rubber was evident from the drop of the green flag as Harvick pulled away from Kahne to take his second win of the season.
“It was a good strategy call there,” Harvick said. “The 5 stayed out and we were able to have a little fresher tires to get ahead of him on the restart. We won on fuel-mileage last time. We just went and won it this time.”
