Advertisement

Harvick holds off Kenseth for win

Share
From Times Wire Reports

Kevin Harvick took the lead from teammate Jeff Burton with 27 laps to go, then held off Matt Kenseth to win the NASCAR Busch Series USG Durock 300 on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

It was the fourth victory at Chicagoland for Harvick, who won the first two Nextel Cup Series races there in 2001 and 2002 and won the track’s Busch Series race in 2005.

Harvick said his Chevrolet wasn’t handling perfectly, but he was in the right place at the right time.

Advertisement

“We were where we needed to be,” Harvick said.

Kyle Busch was leading when Aric Almirola spun out to bring out a caution flag with 34 laps left, forcing teams to make a strategy decision: stay out to hold their position on the track or make a pit stop to get fresh tires.

Busch drove into the pits, and the other leaders appeared to follow him in -- but Burton pulled back on the track at the last second while Busch continued on to make a pit stop, an apparent fake-out move by Burton’s No. 29 team.

“I think the No. 5 car [Busch] kind of had the race won,” Kenseth said. “When they pitted, they kind of opened the door.”

Burton said he was trying to snooker Busch.

“Why wouldn’t you?” Burton said.

By not pitting, Burton took the lead back for a restart with 30 laps to go.

Harvick drew side by side with Burton with 28 laps to go, then pulled past to assume the lead for good one lap later. Kenseth passed Burton for second with 14 laps left but couldn’t chase down Harvick in time.

Kenseth finished second, followed by Burton and Clint Bowyer -- putting three Richard Childress Racing cars in the top four.

*

Mike Skinner dominated the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series Built Ford Tough 225 at Sparta, Ky., leading 135 of 150 laps in a Toyota to earn his series-leading fourth victory of the season.

Advertisement

Skinner’s championship lead grew to 164 points over Ron Hornaday Jr., who finished 10th. Skinner took the lead for the final time on the 105th lap when he passed Todd Bodine.

He had a 5.57-second margin of victory -- half a straightaway -- over Travis Kvapil’s Ford. Skinner averaged 127.175 mph.

*

The Indy Racing League Firestone Indy 200 was postponed because of rain. After a delay of nearly three hours, the race at Nashville Superspeedway was rescheduled for today. It was the first rain postponement in the IRL since June 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway.

*

Andrew Phipps of Simi Valley took over the lead from David Beat on the 10th lap to win his second race of the season in the ACDelco Super Late Model 35-lap feature race at Irwindale Speedway.

Advertisement