 | | Kevin Harvick won for the 15th time in the Busch Series. Credit: Autostock |
NASCAR.COM
July 11, 2005
11:26 AM EDT (15:26 GMT)
JOLIET, Ill. -- Kevin Harvick held off Greg Biffle and Ryan hard-charging Newman to win the USG Durock 300 on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. "His car was really strong," Harvick said of Newman. "He probably had the best car for about 20 laps, then our car was better the next 20 laps. It probably would have been a good fight at the end, but I'm glad we didn't have to see it." A late-race caution with 10 laps remaining bunched up front-runners, but after the single-file restart with six laps to go Newman jetted past Carl Edwards for third place behind Harvick and Biffle. Edwards finished fourth and Mark Martin was fifth -- meaning Nextel Cup regulars finished 1-5. "I knew that Biffle was good on the restarts," Harvick said. "I just had to feel my car out and do what I thought was right. It was a good restart. "We kept adjusting on the car, a little half a pound [of air in the tires] here and there and it was real good at the end." The win was Harvick's first Busch Series victory at Chicago. He won the Cup Series' first two events at the 1.5-mile speedway, in 2001-02. Newman lead a race-high 118 laps, but fell 1.185 second short of his second Busch victory. A penalty for too many crewmen over the wall during a late pit stop cost Newman down the stretch. "It was a pretty good race, but we made a mistake and that's just what we deserved," Newman said. The rest of the top 10: Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Paul Menard and Reed Sorenson. Truex Jr. now leads the standings by 72 points over Bowyer. Reed Sorenson is third, 106 points behind. The victory was Harvick's 15th in the Busch Series, tied for 14th place on the all-time list. | 
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