NEARLY ON THE MARK; Kevin Harvick snatches the Daytona 500.(Motorsports)

Byline: AL PEARCE Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by about a yard in the second-closest finish in Daytona 500 history. We know that because NASCAR's race report says so. Indeed, Harvick took the checkered flag first, beating Martin by 0.020 second. He won after restarting seventh following a late-race, wreck-related caution and red flag.

Scheduled for 200 laps, the green-white-checkered shootout at the end pushed stock car racing's biggest race to 202 laps. Harvick's winning, high-lane charge resembled something the late Dale Earnhardt might have done with one hand. This much we ...

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