Harvick Wins Busch Series Race

Kevin Harvick took charge in the waning laps Saturday and drove to victory in the NASCAR Busch Series USG Durock 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

The Nextel Cup regular, who has won two Cup races at the 1 1/2 -mile oval in Joliet, got a break when Ryan Newman, who started from the pole and led 118 of the 200 laps, was slowed late in the race by a loose lugnut.

Newman, another Cup regular making only his second Busch start of the year, was in the lead and dominating when he pitted on Lap 155.

But his inexperienced Busch crew sent him back on the track with a loose lugnut on the left front tire of his Dodge, and he was given a drive-through penalty for too many men over the pit wall when he came back in on Lap 156.

That left Newman 18th for the restart on Lap 159, but he moved all the way to third for the final restart on Lap 195. He tried to pass Greg Biffle for second but couldn’t and had to settle for third place.

After holding off Newman, Biffle was too far behind Harvick to make a run at him. Harvick, driving a Chevrolet, won by 0.715 of a second -- about eight car-lengths.

Carl Edwards and Mark Martin finished behind Newman, giving Nextel Cup regulars, all of whom will drive in today’s USG Sheetrock 400, the top five spots.

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Dennis Setzer earned his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in four races, holding off Todd Bodine in a two-lap shootout after leader Terry Cook crashed with four laps left.

Setzer’s Chevrolet finished 0.249 of a second ahead of Bodine’s Toyota in the green-white-checker finish in the Built Ford Tough 225 on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway at Sparta. Cook brought out the seventh caution period when he hit the wall after blowing a tire.

Rick Crawford had his series-record streak of 210 starts -- dating to January 1997 -- end after he crashed his Ford during qualifying. He was taken to a hospital and released but wasn’t medically cleared to race.

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Sebastien Bourdais recovered from an accident during practice to bump Paul Tracy off the pole for today’s Toronto Molson Indy and tighten the battle for the Champ Car World Series points lead.

Tracy, who will start second because he won the provisional pole during Friday’s qualifying, has a one-point lead over Bourdais in the series standings.

Bourdais won the pole by turning a lap of 58.552 seconds. Justin Wilson just missed stealing the pole away from him with a lap of 58.554 that put him third on the starting grid.

Bourdais’ Newman-Haas Racing team had to quickly repair damage caused when he crashed his Lola-powered Ford Cosworth during the last practice session.

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Formula One points leader Fernando Alonso won the pole position for today’s British Grand Prix -- his fourth pole this season. The Renault driver was timed in 1 minute 19.905 seconds on the Silverstone course.

Alonso was followed by Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes in 1:19.932, BAR-Honda’s Jenson Button in 1:20.207 and McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya in 1:20.382.

Raikkonen, despite having the second-best time, will start 10 places farther back after a blown engine during practice.