2014 The Profit on CNBC 500

Entry list

The entry list for The Profit on CNBC 500 was released on February 24 at 11:22 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-six drivers were entered for the race.

Start

The race started at 3:20 p.m. with Brad Keselowski leading the field to the green flag, but he did not keep the lead for long as his teammate Joey Logano passed him to lead the first lap. Logano led the race for the entire first stint, ahead of a competition caution on lap 36, due to overnight downpours. Keselowski won the race off pit road to assume the lead, for the restart on lap 41. Just as it was at the first start, Logano assumed the lead on the first lap following the restart, and he held the lead until Kevin Harvick moved ahead on lap 74. Harvick held the lead until a scheduled pit stop on lap 111; Keselowski reassumed the lead before a pit stop of his own on lap 113, and Harvick returned to the head of the race for the next stint. The second caution of the race flew on lap 162, caused by debris on the frontstretch. Brian Vickers' car cut down a right-front tire and hit the wall in turn 3 under that caution.

Halfway

The race restarted on lap 170, but was almost immediately back under yellow flag conditions, after a multi-car incident which brought out the third caution. Danica Patrick made contact with Justin Allgaier going into turn 1 and both spun out. Travis Kvapil made contact with Patrick trying to avoid her.^[18] Allgaier and Patrick discussed the incident post-race, with Allgaier telling the media that Patrick "was just upset because she got involved in the crash that we had", and that "she's been through this and that she felt like I needed to settle down at that point".^[18] The race restarted on lap 176, with Harvick maintaining the lead. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 187 after Patrick went high into the groove in turn 1, cut the left-rear tire and spun through 180 degrees before coming to a stop.

The race restarted on lap 192, with Harvick leading once again for the next stint, leading all the way to his next pit stop, with 76 laps to go and Carl Edwards assumed the lead position. Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman also had stints at the head of the race, with Newman leading the race at the time of the fifth caution of the race, caused by debris on the backstretch, with 66 laps to go. Newman swapped positions with Clint Bowyer on pit road and the lead cycled back to Harvick, for the restart with 61 laps to go. The sixth caution of the race flew with 35 laps to go for debris in turn 1, with the restart coming with 30 laps to go. With 27 laps to go, David Gilliland's left-rear tire delaminated in turn 1, and in the circuit's dogleg, he over-corrected the car and spun around bringing out the seventh caution of the race. The race restarted with 21 laps to go, before the eighth caution of the race flew with 16 laps to go, after Kurt Busch's engine failed.

Finish

The race restarted with nine laps to go and Harvick held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to score the victory.^[19] Harvick praised his Stewart-Haas Racing team for the efforts in the early part of the season, since his move from Richard Childress Racing, stating "to add an extra team, bring in a bunch of new guys, new driver, Rodney Childers has just done a phenomenal job of putting this team together. These guys all want to win that is why they came here".^[19] He added that he was "really happy" with the engine that had been provided by Hendrick Motorsports.^[19] Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed to miss out on the victory, stating that he "would have loved to have won the race, am a little disappointed to have come that close", but like Harvick, praised his team for their performances, adding that they have "a lot of great chemistry and good communication going back and forth. Everybody's confidence is very high. Everybody's mood and morale is really high".^[19]