Harvick wins Bristol Nationwide race
Kevin Harvick claimed his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory driving for his own team in the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway
Harvick inherited the lead from Kyle Busch during a late caution and was untouchable from then on.
Since winning in November 2007 at Texas driving for Richard Childress Racing, Harvick had been win-less in the second-tier category. He is now the most successful driver in the series at Bristol with five wins to his name at the half-mile oval.
"We've worked hard and I've lost a lot of sleep at night trying to get this," said Harvick, who had already won for his team in the Truck Series in the past.
"What a feeling to build something from the very beginning and have won at every level. (Tony) Stewart and (Bobby) Labonte had won in the car before but what a feeling to win in our own stuff."
Kyle Busch effectively handed victory to Harvick after leading the majority of the race. The Joe Gibbs driver got penalised during the penultimate caution for a pitroad violation when a tyre got away from his crew during the last stop.
He dropped from first to 14th and in the last 50 laps he was able to recover to finish a disappointing sixth.
Behind Harvick the Roush Fenway Ford of Carl Edwards finished second, leading nearly a quarter of the distance. Early in the race he had a great battle with Kyle Busch but in the end he couldn't keep up either with him, nor with Harvick after losing his position to the eventual winner right before the last round of pitstops.
"I just drove as hard as I could," said Edwards, who now leads the series standings. "I wanted to win it bad but I just couldn't touch [Harvick].
"I did the best I could on the last restart and I had a little bit of a push and that was all I had. Those guys are in their day, they did a good job but it was a good points day for us."
Reigning champion Clint Bowyer finished third after running solidly all day, while Matt Kenseth was fourth as he replaced the recovering Greg Biffle. Fifth was Penske rookie Justin Allgaier, who excelled on his Bristol debut - finishing as the top Nationwide series regular in a race dominated by the Sprint Cup drivers.
"I think we had a really good race car," said Allgaier. "We just got caught in traffic there for a while and really couldn't get out of it and once we did the car was really good and we were able to get to the front. I'm surprised a little bit. We've never been here before. The team did a great job preparing the car, the pitstops were great all day so they made my job really easy."
Steven Wallace was seventh ahead of Scott Speed while Joey Logano and Jason Leffler rounded out the top-ten.
Polesitter Brendan Gaughan lost the lead to Carl Edwards in the early laps and could only finish 21st and three laps down, struggling with tyre and handling issues. Despite his poor finish he ranks fourth in the points, behind leader Edwards, race-winner Harvick and Kyle Busch.
Pos Driver Car Laps 1. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 300 2. Carl Edwards Ford 300 3. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 300 4. Matt Kenseth Ford 300 5. Justin Allgaier Dodge 300 6. Kyle Busch Toyota 300 7. Steve Wallace Chevrolet 300 8. Scott Speed Toyota 300 9. Joey Logano Toyota 300 10. Jason Leffler Toyota 300 11. Paul Menard Ford 300 12. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 300 13. Scott Lagasse Jr Toyota 300 14. Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 300 15. Burney Lamar Toyota 300 16. John Wes Townley Ford 299 17. David Green Toyota 298 18. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 298 19. David Ragan Ford 298 20. Michael Annett Toyota 297 21. Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 297 22. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 296 23. Trevor Bayne Chevrolet 296 24. Brandon Whitt Ford 295 25. Casey Atwood Chevrolet 295 26. Eric McClure Ford 294 27. Marc Davis Toyota 293 28. Jason Keller Ford 292 29. Robert Richardson Jr Chevrolet 289 30. Kenny Hendrick Dodge 288 31. Michael McDowell Toyota 283 32. Tony Raines Chevrolet 283 33. Kevin Hamlin Dodge 280 34. Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 254 35. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 254 36. Kevin Lepage Dodge 96 37. Danny O'Quinn Jr Chevrolet 81 38. Dennis Setzer Dodge 55 39. Andy Ponstein Chevrolet 22 40. Terry Cook Chevrolet 20 41. Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 10 42. Kelly Bires Toyota 5 43. Steve Grissom Chevrolet 2
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