Loudon, NH (Sports Network) - Kevin Harvick led 166 of 200 laps en route to a
dominating win of Saturday afternoon's Camping World 200 Busch race at the New
Hampshire International Speedway. The No.21 Auto Zone Chevrolet crossed the
finish line 0.284 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards.
The victory was Harvick's second of the season and 28th of his Busch career.
Harvick brought the field to the green flag, but it was series points leader
Edwards who led the first lap. Harvick re-took the lead on lap four and the
two settled into a rhythm.
After 25 laps, Harvick was still the leader, but Clint Bowyer had gotten
underneath Edwards for second place. Harvick built his lead to almost one
second as Edwards continued to drop, now fourth behind Denny Hamlin.
Harvick came in on lap 37, during a caution flag, giving up the top spot as a
couple of teams stayed on the track. Jason Keller was the new leader while
Harvick sat in third place on the restart.
It took Harvick all of a lap-and-a-half to regain the lead, passing Keller and
David Ragan with relative ease.
On the move behind Harvick, Tony Stewart was making his way up the charts.
Juan Montoya was in the top-five and Edwards was returning to form. But it was
still the "Kevin Harvick Show" through 75 laps.
Finally Hamlin gave Harvick some competition, closing to his back bumper. On
lap 81, Hamlin got around Harvick for the lead. Then Eric McClure slammed the
wall on lap 88 to bring out a caution flag and send everyone down pit lane for
fuel and tires.
Hamlin won the race back to the track with Bowyer and Harvick just behind.
Edwards' crew was pretty good too and the No.60 moved up to fourth, past
Stewart and Montoya.
On the restart, Bowyer immediately began to fade as Harvick, Edwards and
Stewart all charged past him.
Another caution flag and when they got back to racing Harvick made quick work
of Hamlin to regain the lead. Stewart also moved up, first passing Edwards and
then Hamlin. He was second to Harvick, by 1.609 seconds, with 86 laps to go.
The problem was, Stewart wasn't gaining on Harvick, he was actually losing
ground. The gap was 2.360 seconds with 79 laps remaining. Suddenly, Stewart
began to slow and both Hamlin and Edwards passed him with still 70 laps to
run.
Hamlin and Edwards began to chop into Harvick's big lead. By lap 139, the gap
was under one second. Edwards slid around Hamlin and took a look at Harvick.
He closed onto the No.21 rear bumper.
The margin was just 0.329 seconds when Montoya and Bowyer got together to
bring out a caution flag and halt the action.
A final pit stop for fuel and Matt Kenseth beat Harvick off pit road. But
again the lead didn't last long as Harvick took two laps to go around him.
Harvick began to extend the lead, to half-a-second with 27 laps to go and
0.879 seconds with 25 remaining. While Harvick was building his lead, he got
help from Edwards who challenged Kenseth for second place. Kenseth had to
fight off the No.60 and it allowed Harvick to run away and hide.
Kenseth couldn't hold off Edwards, but by the time he got around Kenseth he
was one and-a-half seconds behind the leader and just 20 laps to go. Eleven
laps to go and Harvick's lead was just 0.813 seconds. Edwards was making
inroads, but time was running out. Five miles to go and Edwards had the margin
down to four lengths.
Edwards got within inches of Harvick's rear bumper on the final lap, but the
No.21 Chevrolet held him off and took the checkered flag.
"I could see him coming...it was just like old times last year," said Harvick.
"It's a lot of fun to drive these cars...We had to hold on there at the end."
Kenseth, Stewart and Hamlin completed the top-five.
With the second-place finish, Edwards expanded his lead to 809 over David
Reutimann. The next race in the series is set for Friday, July 6th at the
Daytona International Speedway.