Anatomy of NASCAR’s photo finish in Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International

Kevin Harvick’s victory by one-hundredth of a second over Carl Edwards in Sunday’s Good Sam 500 tied for the seventh closest in NASCAR history since electronic scoring was introduced in 1993. It was also the closest finish in Phoenix International Raceway history.

Here’s how it unfolded:

Lap 307

With Kevin Harvick leading comfortably, Kasey Kahne blows a tire and hits the wall. The yellow flag comes out and the race will finish in a green-white-checkered finish.

Quote: “We had a right front tire go down. It happened earlier in the race but a caution came out and I thought it was the engine at the time because of the way it kind of vibrated and changed the tone of the engine.” – Kahne

Lap 308

Harvick and second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. elect to stay on the track during the caution. Other cars – including Carl Edwards – come in for two fresh tires.

Quote: “You’ve got to go with your gut. You don’t ask anybody anything, you’ve got to do what you think is right. It’s my butt if it’s wrong, and I want to be responsible.” – Rodney Childers, Harvick’s crew chief.

Lap 312

Harvick starts on the outside of the front row of the restart, with Earnhardt alongside. Edwards, behind Harvick, has more speed because of his fresh tires.

Quote: “I had no idea that the cars behind me had two tires. I never asked. Unless there’s something wrong, I don’t have that type of information.” – Harvick.

Lap 313

Harvick and Edwards make contact as they come down the frontstretch on the final lap. Neither loses control as Harvick edges Edwards by the narrowest of margins.

Quote: “I was fully expecting everything that I got, but I just needed to be able to get knocked up the track far enough to be able to put the throttle back down.” – Harvick.　

This story was originally published March 13, 2016 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Anatomy of NASCAR’s photo finish in Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International."