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| Kevin Harvick and wife and KHI co-owner Delana Harvick celebrate winning the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway |
| Geoff Burke/Getty Images |
Kevin Harvick powered by Kyle Busch for the lead with 10 laps to go Monday and held on to win the Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Driving his No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet, Harvick collected his fourth career truck win in his 97th start in an event that had been postponed because of rain on Saturday.
"I was able to get to his bumper there and just kind of get him up about half a groove and got up under him," said Harvick, who ran the final 185 laps, including one extra lap because of a green-white-checkered-flag finish, on one tank of fuel.
"I got him up there once before, and he was able to get back by me on the outside," Harvick said. "I didn't want to wreck him, but I knew it was time to start applying the pressure pretty heavily if I was going to get by in case a caution or something would come out. It just takes a while to complete a pass over another fast vehicle."
Busch was subsequently penalized for a commitment line violation when he intentionally ran against the inside backstretch wall under caution in an attempt to straighten out a fender that was bashed in. Busch led a race-high 139 laps and finished 17th.
KHI's Ron Hornaday finished second, and Mike Skinner, Johnny Benson and polesitter Rick Crawford rounded out the top five.
Busch wasn't the only driver to find trouble in the race, which featured 13 cautions, the first on Lap 1.
After the fifth caution, Busch needed less than three laps to dispose of Jason White and take the lead on Lap 102. Busch held the spot until Harvick moved underneath him in the final laps.
Busch remained the series points leader over Todd Bodine, who finished 18th after being involved in two separate accidents, including one with two laps to go that forced the race to finish under caution.
Busch, who is running a partial schedule, won't compete in the series' next race, April 25 at Kansas Speedway.
Notes: Mike Bliss finished 15th in his 200th truck start. ... Ken Schrader finished 10th for his first top-10 since a fourth-place finish last year at Martinsville. ... James Buescher, who turned 19 last week, finished 11th, the highest finish among the six rookies in the race.
Results
| FIN |
ST |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 |
6 |
2 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Bounty |
190/5 |
251 |
Running |
| 2 |
4 |
33 |
Ron Hornaday |
Chevrolet |
Longhorn Smokeless Tobacco |
175/5 |
251 |
Running |
| 3 |
9 |
5 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Bad Boy Mowers |
165/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 4 |
3 |
1 |
Johnny Benson |
Toyota |
Red Horse Racing |
160/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 5 |
1 |
14 |
Rick Crawford |
Ford |
Circle Bar Truck Corral / International |
160/5 |
251 |
Running |
| 6 |
21 |
60 |
Stacy Compton |
Toyota |
wyler.com / Melling Engine Parts |
150/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 7 |
17 |
8 |
Dennis Setzer |
Chevrolet |
Malcolmson Construction |
146/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 8 |
12 |
16 |
Brian Scott |
Toyota |
Albertsons |
142/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 9 |
8 |
88 |
Matt Crafton |
Chevrolet |
Energizer / Menards |
138/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 10 |
24 |
52 |
Ken Schrader |
Chevrolet |
Federated Auto Parts |
134/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 11 |
25 |
10 |
James Buescher * |
Ford |
International Maxx Force Diesel |
130/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 12 |
20 |
129 |
Mikey Kile |
Chevrolet |
Greased Lightning |
127/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 13 |
7 |
9 |
Max Papis |
Toyota |
GEICO |
124/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 14 |
18 |
81 |
Tayler Malsam * |
Toyota |
One Eighty |
121/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 15 |
32 |
40 |
Mike Bliss |
Chevrolet |
Westerman Co./ StopRepairBills.com |
118/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 16 |
13 |
25 |
Terry Cook |
Toyota |
Harris Trucking |
115/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 17 |
11 |
51 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
Miccosukee Resort & Gaming |
122/10 |
251 |
Running |
| 18 |
19 |
30 |
Todd Bodine |
Toyota |
Whelen Engineering |
109/0 |
251 |
Running |
| 19 |
31 |
148 |
Hermie Sadler |
Chevrolet |
TNA Wrestling / Aerodale Vending |
106/0 |
250 |
Running |
| 20 |
27 |
248 |
Chris Fontaine |
Chevrolet |
Glenden Enterprises |
103/0 |
250 |
Running |
| 21 |
28 |
7 |
J.R. Fitzpatrick * |
Chevrolet |
TRG Motorsports |
100/0 |
249 |
Running |
| 22 |
10 |
17 |
Timothy Peters |
Toyota |
Strutmasters.com / Hayes Iron & Metal |
97/0 |
249 |
Running |
| 23 |
30 |
23 |
Jason White |
Dodge |
GunBroker.com |
99/5 |
249 |
Running |
| 24 |
22 |
24 |
David Starr |
Toyota |
Zachry |
91/0 |
247 |
Running |
| 25 |
34 |
157 |
Norm Benning |
Chevrolet |
Norm Benning Racing |
88/0 |
246 |
Running |
| 26 |
36 |
47 |
Brett Butler |
Chevrolet |
Rockingham Speedway Carolina 200 / FT-11 Multi-Purpose Degreaser |
85/0 |
245 |
Running |
| 27 |
14 |
13 |
Johnny Sauter * |
Chevrolet |
Fun Sand / Rodney Atkins / Curb Records |
82/0 |
244 |
Running |
| 28 |
23 |
07 |
Chad McCumbee |
Chevrolet |
Black's Tire & Auto Service |
79/0 |
240 |
Running |
| 29 |
29 |
4 |
Ricky Carmichael * |
Chevrolet |
Oakley |
76/0 |
240 |
Running |
| 30 |
35 |
189 |
Dillon Oliver |
Chevrolet |
Blue Ox / Lafferty Performance |
73/0 |
237 |
Running |
| 31 |
15 |
11 |
T.J. Bell |
Toyota |
Red Horse Racing |
70/0 |
212 |
Accident |
| 32 |
2 |
15 |
Shane Sieg |
Toyota |
Billy Ballew Motorsports |
67/0 |
197 |
Running |
| 33 |
26 |
85 |
Brent Raymer * |
Ford |
Buy Georgia Cabins.com |
64/0 |
167 |
Vibration |
| 34 |
16 |
121 |
Ryan Sieg |
Dodge |
GunBroker.com |
61/0 |
121 |
Ignition |
| 35 |
5 |
6 |
Colin Braun |
Ford |
Con-way Freight |
58/0 |
32 |
Accident |
| 36 |
33 |
08 |
Sean Murphy |
Chevrolet |
ASI Limited |
55/0 |
4 |
Drive Shaft |
* Denotes Rookie