Kevin Harvick wins a wild one at Daytona

daytona beach, fla. —  — Kevin Harvick continued his season of resurgence by leading a strong Richard Childress Racing contingent to a victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

The three RCR cars were the class of the field in a wild night of racing, and Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton were poised to run away with the race before several late cautions interfered with a potential sweep.

A three-car accident moments before Bowyer took the white flag set up NASCAR’s version of overtime, and Bowyer and Harvick had to restart side by side for the final two-lap sprint. Harvick wasted no time sliding into the lead, while Bowyer got little help from behind as Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon swapped spots on the restart.

It left Bowyer with no help in reclaiming the lead. He slipped back into traffic and ultimately spun off the track, and Harvick sailed off to his second win of the season.

The Sprint Cup Series points leader, also the winner at Talladega in April, won for the second time at Daytona. He won the 2007 Daytona 500, and has eight top-10 finishes in 19 career starts.

“This has been a great place for us,” Harvick said. “Daytona has been one of those magical places for us ever since we started coming here.”

Kahne was second in a Ford, followed by Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Burton in Chevrolets.

Earnhardt, who wasn’t good most of the race, seemingly lucked into the top-five finish but it was enough to move him into eligibility for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He’s 11th in the standings.

The start of the race was delayed almost 90 minutes by rain, and a 20-car accident with 12 laps to go stopped the action another 20 minutes.