Dominance in Atlanta

For most of the 325-lap event, Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet Impala SS was the class of the field on longer runs, often posting times in excess of a half-second faster than the rest of the competitors. At one point, the 33 year-old driver stretched his lead over the second-place car to well in excess of four seconds.

In all, Harvick was shown atop the leader board six different times for a total of 66 laps, just two laps less than pole winner Martin Truex, Jr., who led the most (68).

In the end, the No. 29 team's long green-flag success fell victim to a short green-flag finish. On the final restart, Harvick was passed by Kasey Kahne, who stretched his lead to 1.766 seconds in a 10-lap dash to the finish to claim the victory in the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series night race held at AMS.

Harvick and his crew posted a second-place finish, their third top-five result of 2009 and Harvick's best finish at the 1.5-mile track since his first NSCS victory there, which came eight years ago in just his third series start.

With the finish, the team moves up one spot, to 23rd, in the NSCS point standings.

After posting the 18th-quickest time in Saturday's qualifying session, Harvick rolled off for the start of the Labor Day weekend event from the outside of the ninth row.

In the early going, Harvick found his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Impala SS had a loose handling condition. Crew chief Gil Martin called for minor chassis adjustments on the first pit stop on lap 37.

Harvick's car came to life following the stop, as he gained eight positions over the next 18 laps. In fact, the car handled so well on longer runs, the team opted to make no chassis adjustments over the next five pit stops.

To gain an advantage in the long-term, the team was willing to give up a little in the short-term. It took 10 to 12 laps for the handling on the No. 29 entry to come around to Harvick's liking following every restart, which meant the 33 year-old driver would fade back four or five positions before his lap times drastically improved.

Harvick carved his way to the front of the pack for the first time on lap 168 and held the lead for 20 laps before engaging in a side-by-side battle with Brian Vickers. Vickers gained the point for two laps (189-190) before Harvick retook the lead for the next 12 circuits.

As the race continued, Harvick never dropped lower than sixth position. On lap 271, he came to pit road for the ninth stop of the night, taking on four tires and a minor chassis adjustment. On the restart, Harvick was second, but dropped back to sixth as he patiently waited for his car's handling to come around.

After regaining fifth spot from Mark Martin on lap 285, true to form, the No. 29 again became the fastest car on the track. On lap 290, Harvick was over four seconds behind race leader Juan Pablo Montoya, but just 15 laps later, it was Harvick who was back atop the leader board.

Harvick was pulling away from the competition and appeared to be on his way to the win when the final caution flag was displayed on lap 309 for a car that spun out on the frontstretch.

In an attempt to get the No. 29 to handle better on the short green-flag run that followed, Martin called for the team to pump the air pressure up by one pound on all four of the new Goodyear Eagle tires the crew bolted on to Harvick's machine.

On the restart, Harvick was in the outside lane, while Kasey Kahne restarted on the inside. As soon as the green flag was displayed, Kahne was able to take the lead and held on to post his second win of the 2009 season.

The rest of the top five was made up of Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann and Mark Martin.

Harvick's RCR teammates, Casey Mears, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton, finished 25th, 29th and 34th, respectively.

Next weekend brings another night race, as NASCAR's premier division heads to the Dominion State for the second and final stop of the season at the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway. 

Flag-to-flag coverage of the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 from Richmond International Raceway will take the green flag Saturday, September 12 beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on ABC.  The race will also be broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.  Qualifying for the 26th points-paying race on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series calendar will be televised live on SPEED Friday, September 11 beginning at 5:30 p.m. EDT and will also broadcast live on MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

Kevin Harvick Quote: "We had a great car tonight. The guys did a great job preparing the car. I knew we were in trouble there at the end because it took our car 15 or 20 laps to get going, but hey, that's a long ways from where we've been. We led a bunch of laps tonight, something we haven't been able to do in a while.

"I'm happy. Obviously, you want to go out and win, but from where we've been this year, I think tonight feels like a win. We'll just take this momentum and hopefully keep it going."