DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Kevin Harvick started Speedweeks in bed, started the Budweiser Shootout in a backup car and started the final few laps out of the lead.
After all that, he ended up in Victory Lane.
Again.
Harvick won the exhibition race for the second consecutive year by moving from fourth to first and passing leader Greg Biffle with two laps remaining in Saturday night's kickoff race to Speedweeks. Biffle's wreck moments later ended the race under caution, giving Harvick his first win since the Shootout victory a year ago.
He hasn't won a points race since the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500, and was not ready to proclaim his Shootout victory a precursor for a possible repeat in next week's 500.
"I know we started last year the same way," he said of the 2009 Shootout win -- the lone bright spot in an otherwise abysmal season for Harvick and all of Richard Childress Racing.
And, the way he started Speedweeks was a reminder of just how topsy-turvy the 11 days in Daytona can be.
He was battling the flu and too ill to travel to Daytona on Thursday for Shootout practice, so teammate Clint Bowyer drove the Chevrolet in the first session. Then it was marred by a seven-car accident that destroyed the No. 29, forcing RCR to pull out its backup car.
Jeff Burton practiced that for Harvick, who was able to get to Daytona in time for Friday's 500 practice. That got rained out after just two laps.
So Harvick was all too aware of the bizarre things that can happen between now and the Feb. 14 race.
