Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports
It only took 15 laps for a demolition derby to begin in Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Most people think Kevin Harvick's lame duck season at Richard Childress Racing will limit his success.
Harvick and his No. 29 team beg to differ; they think it's unlimited.
NASCAR's season-opening Sprint Unlimited exhibition race went to Harvick on Saturday night, the third time he's won the race formerly known as the Shootout in the last five years. Harvick is leaving RCR for Stewart-Haas Racing after this season.
"I don't think it's been that big of a deal," Harvick said of his situation. "...Our guys, they don't care. They just want to win."
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It was a special night for Harvick, who killed his engine trying to do a burnout and had to be pushed to Victory Lane. His son Keelan, who sat in his father's car and left a shoe in it before the race, performed his first forward crawl.
Confident his team will be able to stay together in a potentially awkward situation, Harvick said the group is "going to have a helluva lot of fun racing, having a good time, doing our jobs.
"The atmosphere is great, honestly," he said.
Crew chief Gil Martin, buoyed by the exhibition victory and a promising start to the new season, vowed to do "whatever it takes" to win the championship this season.
Anyone who thinks otherwise, he said, is "sadly mistaken."
"Pride also comes in there pretty good, too," Harvick chimed in. "It's fun to prove people wrong."
Harvick quieted the lame duck talk -- at least for a night -- with a bold move to block Greg Biffle's last-lap charge.
Biffle had a big boost of momentum on the high side, but Harvick just kept drifting up until the Roush Fenway Racing driver backed off. The mirror-driving gave Harvick a clean path to the finish line.
Harvick, who once flipped his go-kart in a backyard race because he was unwilling to cede the position, said he had no thoughts of lifting off the gas.
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"When you're coming from white to checkered, it's whatever you have to do to try to make it happen," he said. "I guess a game of 'chicken' would be the best way to put it."
Said Biffle: "I had a run on him on the top there, and he kind of closed the door. Kevin did what he had to do to win that race. I didn't think there was room to stick it in there; I thought we would end up wrecked."
Though Harvick led 40 of the final 42 laps in a relatively tame race, a big wreck marred the first segment and took out several contenders.
Tony Stewart came across Marcos Ambrose's nose at the exit of Turn 1 on lap 15 and got out of shape, but was able to save it. When his car started to spark, though, a three-wide group of drivers behind him wiggled and collided, triggering a crash.
Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch — last year's winner — were all collected in the crash. That left just 12 cars on the track for the rest of the night.
"I self-cleared myself, I guess," Stewart said. "I went down before the spotter cleared me. I thought I had a big enough run that I cleared second, but I obviously hadn't and I just barely nicked him. I just needed about two more inches."
In general, it wasn't a very good night for Stewart. He also had a shot at the win, but couldn't quite figure out which move to make on the last lap.
"That is why I haven't won a Daytona 500 yet," he said.
Matt Kenseth dominated the opening segment, leading 25 of the 30 laps. But Stewart passed him on the final lap of Segment 1 to "win" the first portion of the race.
Harvick then took the lead after a pit stop and maintained it despite some shuffling in Segment No. 2.
The Unlimited marked NASCAR's first test with its new Gen 6 cars — and there were plenty of unknowns. Thanks to wrecks in two separate test sessions when drivers attempted to draft, no one knew quite what to expect.
Fans got to determine the format of the race, which was three segments of 30 laps, 25 laps and 20 laps. They also voted for no eliminations to occur — though it didn't matter after the early wreck — and voted for a mandatory four-tire pit stop after the first segment.
Though some cars were torn up, race teams won't need to worry about whether they will have enough cars for the Daytona 500; the Sprint Unlimited cars are separate from the 500 fleet (which consist of both a primary car and a backup on standby).
Furniture Row Racing, for example, is still good on cars despite wrecking two vehicles in two days. Richard Childress (whose team has an alliance with Furniture Row) said the organization has eight cars in Daytona and two spares at its North Carolina shop.
The Unlimited took place on an unusually chilly night in Daytona Beach. Though it was 52 degrees at race time, the wind from an oncoming cold front made it feel much chillier.
Formerly known as the Shootout, the race consisted of drivers who had won poles in 2012. That meant defending Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski and runner-up Clint Bowyer had to watch the race from the sidelines.
Keselowski was a guest analyst for FOX's TV broadcast, and Bowyer initially said he wished he was in the race but was singing a different tune later.
"I have changed my mind..." Bowyer tweeted after seeing the big wreck.
Carl Edwards was black-flagged for losing his driver's side net and finished 12th.
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