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Harvick beats Stewart to Glen win

Kevin Harvick snatched NASCAR Nextel Cup race victory from Tony Stewart with a late race pass at Watkins Glen

Stewart looked almost certain of the win once polesitter and dominant early force Kurt Busch suffered the double blow of a penalty and a trip off the road.

But Harvick fought back and reclaimed the lead from Stewart with four laps remaining, before pulling out just enough of a lead to clinch victory.

The race had got off to an action-packed start as Busch lost his pole advantage with a quick excursion at Turn 1.

That put Kasey Kahne into the lead for a few corners before Ryan Newman took charge. But Busch, who had fallen to sixth, didn't stay down for long - quickly charging back to second, and then retaking the lead back from Newman at the first green flag restart on lap seven.

Stewart pushed Busch for a while, but the winner of yesterday's Busch Series race appeared to have the speed to control the Nextel Cup round as well, and eventually edged clear.

Busch then dominated the middle stages of the race, only to hit trouble when penalised for making his final pit stop before pit lane had been opened during one of many cautions.

To compound this error, Busch then went off the road again at the subsequent restart and fell all the way down to 41st. He charged through the field in the closing laps, only to get involved in a multi-car incident on the final lap and tumble down the order again.

Meanwhile Harvick's strategy had worked out perfectly, putting him up front after Busch's problems, while former second placed man Stewart had to fight back from 13th after the yellows failed to work out right for him.

It didn't take long for Stewart to get back to second, but passing Harvick proved tougher. Stewart made it through on a restart at lap 81, only for Harvick to strike back six laps later. This time, Stewart had no response.

"He did an awesome job," Stewart admitted. "I made a mistake, and he got back past because of it, and he never made a mistake after that - he hit his marks every lap."

Jamie McMurray fended off Robby Gordon for third, ahead of Carl Edwards.

Jeff Gordon looked set for at least a top five finish before getting involved in a tangle on lap 66. He managed to come back through from 39th to 15th in the remaining laps.

Results

Pos  Driver              Make     Laps
 1.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  90
 2.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  90
 3.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       90
 4.  Robby Gordon        Chevrolet  90
 5.  Carl Edwards        Ford       90
 6.  Boris Said          Ford       90
 7.  Scott Pruett        Dodge      90
 8.  Elliott Sadler      Ford       90
 9.  Ryan Newman         Dodge      90
10.  Ron Fellows         Chevrolet  90
11.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet  90
12.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet  90
13.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  90
14.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      90
15.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  90
16.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  90
17.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet  90
18.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet  90
19.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  90
20.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet  90
21.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      90
22.  Mark Martin         Ford       90
23.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       90
24.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      90
25.  Scott Riggs         Dodge      90
26.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge      90
27.  Scott Wimmer        Chevrolet  90
28.  Dale Jarrett        Ford       90
29.  Bill Elliott        Dodge      90
30.  Martin Truex Jr.    Chevrolet  90
31.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet  90
32.  Kyle Petty          Dodge      90
33.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet  89
34.  Ken Schrader        Ford       89
35.  Casey Mears         Dodge      89
36.  Michael Waltrip     Dodge      89
37.  Terry Labonte       Chevrolet  81
38.  Greg Biffle         Ford       75
39.  Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet  64
40.  Dave Blaney         Dodge      61
41.  Brian Simo          Chevrolet  61
42.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  61
43.  Marc Goossens       Ford       58

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