Harvick forced to settle for second place

LOUDON, N.H. -- Kevin Harvick was far from out of contention Saturday with 45 laps to go in the New England 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

He was in second place, hounding the bumper of leader David Green.

	Kevin Harvick

But Harvick knew he had a problem. No, the engine wasn't going sour. And all four tires were fully inflated.

But his race was done. Green had just passed Harvick just after a restart, and since track position is so important at this flat oval, Harvick would need a miracle he wasn't going to get.

"I knew I was in trouble when he got by me," Harvick said. "Once he got by me, my car was dead sideways for four or five laps. I just tried to drive it too hard. We had adjusted it to be a little bit tighter. Once I got behind him, it was really tight. I couldn't even get up to him to knock him out of the way."

Harvick could manage a slight smile, but he had to be frustrated. Harvick started on the pole and led the first 141 laps. Johnny Sauter passed him for the lead, but Sauter's day would end soon with an ill-timed pit stop and then engine failure.

ALSO Green holds off Harvick in the closing laps Play video David Green celebrates his second win of 2003 Play video  •  Results  •  Standings  •  Photo Gallery  •  Harvick forced to settle for second  •  Bliss enraged after incident with Hamilton Jr.

That gave the lead back to Harvick for 11 more laps. But instead of a dominating victory, Harvick had to settle for a frustrating second-place finish.

"We had a really good car all day," Harvick said. "We played the track-position game there at the end and put on two tires. My car was dead sideways for four or five laps. I tried to push it a little too hard and slipped, and David got around me. Once I got back there, the car was tighter than it was the first two runs."

Late in the race, Harvick stayed with a dozen car-lengths, but that was as close as he could get.

"That was all I could do at the end of the race," Harvick said. "I just needed to swap the segments of the race around today and be good at the end instead of the beginning. But, still a good day for us."