CONCORD, N.C. — Kevin Harvick thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Surely, he told himself as he drove by the front stretch, that can’t be a cable hanging down on the track.

“I saw this streak go by me and I’m like, `What in the (heck) was that?”’ Harvick said after winning the Coca-Cola 600 for the second time in three years on Sunday.

“I always have this thing with my eyes. It’s one of the biggest things we have as drivers. You got to believe in your eyes. I tell myself you’ve got to believe what you see. I was hoping it wasn’t my last race, I was hoping what I saw was right.”

It was right. Weird, but right.

Turns out the nylon rope from an overhead camera system used by Fox Sports had snapped and fallen on the track. It messed up a few cars, caused a red flag to be dropped and injured 10 fans — three of whom had to be transported to the hospital.

That was the type of night it was at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And the fact that such a crazy race was run under a full moon only added to the oddity.

It included four multi-car accidents that took out several notable drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick.

Harvick managed to avoid those wrecks and beat Kasey Kahne on a restart with 11 laps remaining to capture his 21st career Sprint Cup victory.

Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Hours later, Tony Kanaan still struggled to believe he had finally won the Indianapolis 500.

The Brazilian had come close many times in his previous 11 attempts before breaking through on Sunday. He couldn’t sleep Sunday night, but not because he was excited.

“I was afraid I was going to go to sleep and I wake up in the morning and it would be race day again,” the KV Racing driver said.

Kanaan can rest easy. His win was real, and so was the $2,353,500 he earned.

The winnings were announced at the Indianapolis 500 Victory Awards Celebration on Monday night at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Now, he has a place in history.

Kanaan clinched his first Indy 500 win when the 2012 winner, Dario Franchitti, crashed late, allowing Kanaan to win under caution.

Franchitti dismissed conspiracy theorists who thought he might have crashed intentionally to preserve the victory for his good friend.

“I love T.K. like a brother, but I didn’t do it on purpose. I can assure you if I did, it would have been a smaller crash. That one hurt yesterday.”

Franchitti, a three-time champion, finished 23rd.