c.2013 New York Times News Service

CONCORD, N.C. — On a day meant for racing, beginning with the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and followed by the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR earned some headlines of its own in its showcase Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night.

But it wasn’t exactly what NASCAR wanted.

Kevin Harvick took advantage of a late caution flag, using pit strategy to outgun dominant driver Kasey Kahne and pull off the upset in a race that was marred when a nylon rope suspended over the frontstretch to support a TV camera snapped and injured 10 fans, with three taken to area hospitals. Three red flag stoppages, two because of the broken rope, and a series of major wrecks made the longest race of the Sprint Cup season last a whole lot longer.

There didn’t appear to be a race car left undamaged that was fast enough to challenge Kahne, the defending champion who had won the 600 three times in his career. Kahne retook the lead with 18 laps to go after a cycle of green-flag stops, and had no race car close to his No. 5 Chevrolet. Kahne, who had to take intravenous fluids in the afternoon before the race because of illness, was on his way to victory when a caution flag came out with 16 laps to go for debris on the frontstretch.

But he stayed out on the track when the rest of the leaders went to pit road for new tires. When Kahne found out every other race car on the lead lap had pitted, he said over the radio to his crew chief, “Oh, boy.”

It turned out to be a mistake. Harvick, on fresh tires, beat Kahne on the restart with 11 laps to go, and Kahne didn’t have the tires to catch him. He finished second.

“When we had the caution come out, that’s a whole different ballgame with a short run like that, and obviously the best car didn’t put tires on,” Harvick said. “And we were able to capitalize on that. I felt like when we came out second, everybody had done their job and they were all like 5-year-old kids looking to me for a snack. It was like: Don’t screw this up, bud.”

He didn’t.

It was Harvick’s second victory of the year, in his last season with Richard Childress Racing before he moves to Stewart-Haas Racing next season.

Harvick wasn’t among the dominant drivers for much of the race. Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch were the drivers to beat. Kenseth led for 112 laps, but was burned by pit strategy and was later caught up in a wreck. Kyle Busch went out with a blown engine after running up front for 65 laps. He finished 38th.

“So frustrating to see it end on a short note like that,” said Kyle Busch, who won the Camping World Truck Series race here last weekend and the Nationwide Series race on Saturday.

Earlier in the race, Busch’s No. 18 Toyota had been severely damaged when the nylon rope that was used to move a TV camera that hovered above the frontstretch snapped near the first turn 122 laps into the race. The rope, which spanned about 2,425 feet and allowed the camera to move from just beyond Turn 4 almost to Turn 1, fell onto the track. As the race cars came around Turn 4, the cable whipped through Kyle Busch’s car, and then damaged those of Mark Martin and Marcos Ambrose.

Even the drivers could not believe it.

“First time I drove by I said, ‘Damn, my career is over,’” Harvick said.

The next time by, he saw the cable and the race was red-flagged shortly after that. It was stopped twice for a total of 27 minutes.

“A full investigation is planned and use of the camera is suspended indefinitely,” a statement released by Fox Sports read.

A track spokesman said later that the three fans taken to hospitals were treated and released.

After that, what had been a relatively uneventful race got far more interesting with a series of wrecks in the second half. First, defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski apologized to Danica Patrick after he caused a wreck that collected both cars with 81 laps to go. Even before the wreck, Patrick, who would have been a primary focus of the Indianapolis 500, was once again a nonfactor in a Cup race. Her rookie season, which began with a pole in the Daytona 500 and an eighth-place finish, has been mostly a struggle since then. She was 29th on Sunday night and is 30th in points this season.

Another crash occurred just a few laps later when Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Aric Almirola crashed going into Turn 1 with 74 laps remaining. Seven cars in all were collected. That led to a red-flag stop — the third of the race — that lasted 9:13.

Kurt Busch, who was leading the race when the wreck occurred, had trouble restarting his car after the red flag. He had to be pushed by a wrecker to pit road and dropped back to 11th in the field. He finished third.

“I’m still shellshocked,” Busch said. “We picked up the lead, then the battery went dead. We battled back. We had a good car. You got to be perfect to win these things and I was close. We weren’t quite there.”

With 67 laps to go there was another major crash, this one coming off Turn 4 and collecting five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson along with Kenseth.

The final count: 11 cautions for 61 laps in a race that never seemed to end. Until Harvick outlasted the field and finally finished this most storied day of racing.