Bojangles' Southern 500 Fast Facts

Kevin Harvick won the 65th Annual Bojangles' Southern 500, his 25th victory in 474 NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series races.

This is his second victory and third top-10 finish in 2014.

This is his first victory and seventh top-10 finish in 18 races at Darlington Raceway.Harvick becomes the first driver to win from the pole at Darlington Raceway since Dale Jarrett in 1997.

With two wins, Harvick is now guaranteed to be among the top 15 winners - virtually guaranteeing a
spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (second) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 20 races at Darlington Raceway. It is his
fifth top-10 finish in 2014.

Earnhardt's runner-up finish is his career-best at Darlington Raceway. His previous best was fourth
(March 17, 2002 and May 10, 2008)Jimmie Johnson (third) posted his 12th top-10 finish in 16 races at Darlington Raceway.

Kyle Larson (eighth) was the highest finishing rookie.

Jeff Gordon leads the point standings by 1 points over Matt Kenseth.

Joey Logano passes Jeff Gordon on final lap for Texas win

Joey Logano's "Final Four" at Texas Motor Speedway had nothing to do with the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship set for Monday night in nearby Arlington.

Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon's decision to pit for four Goodyear Dual Zone tires during the final caution period of the rain-delayed Duck Commander 500 propelled the Team Penske star to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of 2014.

"We've been in contention every race this year to win, and I'm proud to be a part of that," said Logano, who extended a streak that has produced seven different winners in as many Sprint Cup races. "I felt very confident about this race. For some reason I told Todd, I said, 'We're going to win this week' and I was mad when we didn't get the pole. But I felt like we had a car that could win today."

Logano, 23, scored his first career victory on TMS' 1.5-mile quad-oval and fourth in 190 career Sprint Cup starts at the expense of four-time series champion Jeff Gordon under a green-white-checkered-flag finish that extended the race to 340 laps from the originally scheduled 334.

Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil / Hertz Ford Fusion, passed Gordon via a crossover move on the inside heading into Turn 1 on Lap 340 en route to margin of victory of 0.476 seconds. Kyle Busch finished third with Brian Vickers and Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Kyle Larson rounding out a top five that was shuffled by the day's seventh and final caution on Lap 333.

Logano was working on a 3.053-second lead over teammate Brad Keselowski when Kurt Busch, winner of last week's race at Martinsville Speedway, brushed the outside wall in Turn 2. During the ensuing pit stops, Logano and Keselowski opted for four tires and fuel. Gordon, of Hendrick Motorsports, and Vickers, of Michael Waltrip Racing, opted for right-side rubber only and exited pit road 1-2.

"When you've got 40-something laps after the last pit stop and a pretty sizeable lead, really, all you're thinking is, 'Where's the white flag?'" Logano said. "Brad was able to catch us a little bit and then you go into Turn 1 and see the No. 41 (of Kurt Busch) up against the wall and you're like, 'Please, no caution.' And, of course -- boom -- it comes out and you're like, 'You've got to be kidding me.' So you get so mad that you can barely control yourself. Really, I was just so mad.

"And then he (Todd Gordon) made a last-minute decision to put fuel in it, gave me better balance for what I needed and the guys made the 'money stop.' I was the first guy out with four tires on."

Similarly, Gordon praised crew chief Alan Gustafson for a "great call" to go with two tires on the final stop given his standing when the yellow flew. "I mean, coming in sixth, you're in that position that you can gamble," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Axalta / Texas A&M School of Engineering Chevrolet SS. "You're not going to win it with four (tires),you're not going to win it with none. I knew it was going to be hard to hold those guys off.

"I got a pretty good restart, so I was happy about that. Got through (Turns) 1 and 2. I was shocked I was leading off of 2, to be honest. I wish I would have run a little bit higher down (Turns) 3 and 4. I'm sure Joey was going to go wherever I didn't. Probably would have been a little bit better off on the top. He crossed over and got into the back of me pretty good. At that point I was just thinking, 'I want to finish.' Looked out my mirror, those guys were racing hard behind me. A great second-place finish for me."

Kyle Busch, winner of this event last year, said he was looking at solid third-place results before the final sequence. "Of course, the inevitable comes out with the yellow and you have to come down and get tires -- just way too long out there on tires," said Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. "I chose four just because I absolutely killed my stuff about three laps prior to that caution coming out so I knew that was our only chance. Just drove the hell out of it there those last two laps and got all she could and come home third. Good, deserving finish for us here."

Keselowski was poised to give team owner Roger Penske a slam-dunk 1-2 finish behind his teammate when the final caution flew. Keselowski exited the pits fourth with four tires, one spot behind Logano. But he was charged with speeding off pit road -- a miscue that dropped him to 15th.

"That last caution was a shame," said Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford. "I was just trying to get a little too much on pit road and wanted to get us out front to be able to win the race and tried a little too hard. We're in it for wins. We're not in it for finishing second."

Gordon emerged as the new points leader after HMS teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed out of the event on Lap 12, finished 43rd and dropped to sixth in the standings. Gordon holds a four-point (259-255) lead over Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing heading into Saturday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.(John Sturbin, NASCAR Wire Service)

Rain postpones race at Texas

The Duck Commander 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, which was scheduled for a green flag start at 3:16pm/et on Sunday April 6th, has been postponed due to rain to Monday, April 7th and is scheduled to air on FOX at 12:00pm/et. FOXSports1 is scheduled to air a 30 minutes pre-race show at 11:30am/et.

Brian France Says "Significant" Engine Changes Are Coming in Future Years

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that modifications to the engines -- which would likely bring a reduction in horsepower -- are the next step in further enhancing the sport's on-track product, although he was unsure if such changes would be in place for next season. "We're going to make that happen, and that's part of the overall rules packages that we design that hopefully control costs, hopefully make the racing better," France said. "The engine is an integral part of that. We also have to be in step as much as possible with the car manufacturers and where they're going with technology and different things. It all has to come together, and that's the next significant part of the rules package. ... The engine will get a significant change. I'm not going to say (for) '15, but we are certainly sizing that up. It's very important for us to get that right."

According to representatives of NASCAR's three manufacturer partners, who took part in a conference call with reporters Tuesday, a potential reduction in engine horsepower is still in the very early stages. Sprint Cup Series engines generate 850 horsepower, and are built by five manufacturer-specific companies -- TRD and Triad Racing Technologies (Toyota), Roush-Yates Engines (Ford) and Earnhardt Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet). Most of the changes made in recent years have focused on the cars, beginning with the rollout of the more brand-identifiable Generation-6 vehicle for the 2013 season, and an aerodynamic package that was further refined before this year.

Duck Commander 500 Weekend Schedule

Thursday, April 3
5:00 PM-6:00 PM O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 PRACTICE
6:30 PM-8:00 PM O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 FINAL PRACTICE

Friday, April 4
3:10 PM (4:10 PM/ET) O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 QUALIFYING
5:00 pm - 6:50pm Duck Commander 500 Practice (FS1)
7:30 PM (8:30 PM/ET) O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 (ESPN2)

Saturday, April 5
9:30 - 11:00am Duck Commander 500 Final Practice (FS1)
2:10pm Duck Commander 500 Qualifying (FS2)

Sunday, April 6
12:00 pm NSCS Driver/Crew Chief Meeting
2:00pm 2014 Duck Commander 500 (FOX)

ALL POSTED TIMES LOCAL TO TRACK