Montreal, QC Canada (Sports Network) - Kevin Harvick captured Saturday
afternoon's inaugural NAPA Auto Parts 200 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in
wild fashion after Robby Gordon spun out the race leader. The No.21 Chevrolet
crossed the finish line 0.338 seconds ahead of Canadian Patrick Carpentier.
The victory was Harvick's fourth of the season and 30th of his Busch Series
career.
Carpentier brought the field to the green flag for a scheduled 74 laps for
road-course racing. But on lap six Boris Said successfully moved around both
Ron Fellows and Carpentier for the lead.
Many of the leaders made an early stop, but Carpentier stayed out, using a
slightly different pit strategy. When everyone had cycled through, Scott
Pruett owned the lead just ahead of Said. He did it with a quicker stop, but
while Said had four new tires, Pruett got fuel only.
Marcos Ambrose was third, but not for long. He went around Said for second
place on lap 21 and was less than one second behind Pruett. Ambrose closed
onto Pruett's back bumper.
In the series championship, Carl Edwards came in to the pits on lap 25 and a
mechanical problem sent him to the garage for repairs to the rear suspension.
Meanwhile, on lap 27 Ambrose finally got by Pruett as he appeared to let
Ambrose go past.
After 30 laps it was Ambrose, who got his start in road-course racing in
Australia, and four "road-course specialists" - Pruett, Fellows, Said and
Carpentier. Not far behind them were "Mad" Max Papis and Gordon.
When Alex Garcia blew oil on the track on lap 32, it brought out the first
caution flag of the race and sent many of the leaders to the pit, excluding
Ambrose and Fellows, who stayed out.
Said and Pruett were part of the group that pitted and they returned in 12th
and 13th-place, respectively. They both took four tires and it was likely that
on the final stop of the day.
Shortly after the restart, Steven Wallace blew his engine and put down a lot
of fluid on the track that took a while to clean up. The field passed the
halfway point still under caution and it gave some teams a chance to gamble on
reaching the checkered flag by stopping on lap 39.
Ambrose and Fellows came in, but needed fuel and tires, while the other
leaders took fuel only. Carpentier and Said stayed out to inherit the lead.
Harvick and Jeff Burton took fuel only and gained more than eight positions.
Pruett restarted in ninth place and Ambrose from 12th. Ambrose punched the gas
pedal on the restart and by lap 42 was around Pruett and into seventh place,
just behind Harvick. If he could get around Harvick he would be the leader of
those who stopped.
Ambrose got around Harvick on lap 43 and though he was sixth overall, he was
the de facto leader of the race. As the race leaders peeled off to go to pit
lane, Ambrose moved up the charts. He also held more than a one-second lead on
Harvick and five seconds on Pruett.
Finally, on lap 48 all those in front of him pitted and Ambrose retook the
race lead.
Twenty-five laps to go and Ambrose's lead was 1.731 seconds over Harvick.
Harvick was beginning to push and both Pruett and Fellows got past him, but
they were five seconds behind Ambrose.
Caution flag number three came out on lap 57 as Jorge Goeters hit the tire
wall. The flag erased Ambrose's big lead, but also assured that Ambrose and
the other leaders could reach the checkered flag without stopping.
The green flag dropped to restart the race on lap 60 and Ambrose took off. He
was the fastest car on the track and his lead was 0.934 seconds with 10 laps
remaining. Gordon got around both Fellows and Pruett for second place and then
another caution flag, for oil on the track, slowed Ambrose's charge to his
first career Busch Series win.
The race would come down to the rookie, Ambrose, and one of NASCAR's best off-
road and road course racers, Gordon.
The race restarted with four laps to go and Ambrose got a great jump on
Gordon. But Fellows and Pruett didn't make it through turn two and they spun
around blocking the track and forcing a caution flag. Meanwhile, Ambrose had
spun Gordon out after the caution flags were displayed
NASCAR determined that Gordon should restart in 14th place, but Gordon refused
to move from behind Ambrose. NASCAR should have red-flagged the race at that
point to force Gordon to move, but instead began the race with Gordon right
behind the leader.
Gordon, of course, took out his frustration on Ambrose spinning him out in the
second corner. Harvick inherited the lead and after holding off Carpentier was
declared the winner.
Gordon continued to claimed he won the race, but Harvick was the actual winner
as Gordon had been black-flagged and his final laps weren't counted by the
scoring computer.
Carl Edwards finished 30th, but still maintains a stranglehold on the
championship.
Next week will be another road-course event, this time at Watkins Glen
International in New York.