BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Down but not out, Kevin Harvick pulled his team out from an embarrassing cheating scandal by taking Richard Childress Racing back to Victory Lane.

Harvick scored his first victory since 2003 on Sunday, winning the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway despite a stack of obstacles against him.

His crew chief, Todd Berrier, was stuck at home serving a four-race suspension for cheating last month in Las Vegas. His car owner, Childress, spent most of the weekend complaining about the penalties against his team and driver.

And when the crew uncovered the No. 29 Chevrolet hours before the race, they found a puddle of leaking power steering fluid. The team had to fix it, and the unapproved repairs forced them to start last in the 43-car field.

But with Childress back on the pit box for the first time since 2001, filling in for Berrier and calmly coaching Harvick, the brash young driver stayed calm during a tense, wreck-filled race.  More