Harvick wins second straight Road Course race

This week Kevin Harvick got to do his burnout without unexpected company.

Driving a car he described as “just flat-out awesome," Harvick beat Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton to the finish line by a comfortable 3.529 seconds to win Saturday’s Zippo 200 at The Glen. The victory was Harvick’s second straight, his 31st in the Busch Series–tied with Jack Ingram for second all-time–and the fifth this season in 17 starts.

The 2006 series champion ran away from the rest of the field at Watkins Glen International after a restart on Lap 73. Polesitter Kurt Busch tried to rally over the closing laps, but by the end of the race, Busch had worn out his brakes in attempt to make up for an early four-tire pit top that had cost him valuable track position.

Busch faded to third by the finish, a few car lengths ahead of Paul Menard in fourth. Rookie Brad Coleman ran fifth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Casey Mears, Ryan Newman and Andy Lally.

After short-pitting on Lap 4, Harvick came to the pits for the final time under caution on Lap 39 and stretched his fuel the rest of the way in the 82-lap event. He restarted seventh on Lap 41, but by the time the fielded took the green flag on Lap 52 after a caution for debris, Harvick was in the lead and well on the way to a second straight Saturday celebration.

This time, however, he didn’t have a disgruntled Robby Gordon as a distraction. Gordon had done a simultaneous burnout with Harvick last Saturday at Montreal in protest of a scoring decision that cost Gordon a chance to win the inaugural Busch race at Montreal.

“It was a really, really smart race that we ran, and we had a really fast car to go with it," Harvick said. “We stuck to our plan and did everything we planned to do when we were close to our (pit) windows."

Burton’s chances diminished when he tangled with David Reutimann in the inner loop early in the race and damaged his left front fender. The resulting aerodynamic disadvantage cost Burton the opportunity to challenge his teammate for the win.

“I got a fender torn off of it racing with a lapped car," Burton said. “That was my fault, and that hurt us throughout the day."

An optimistic start to the day disintegrated for Busch, who had to abuse his equipment to get back to the front.

“I felt like we had a great day in store for us," Busch said. “When we pitted early in the race, some guys took fuel only, and that’s what got us way behind. Then our brakes faded away. We had a really good car, really fast most of the day–just behind on pit strategy, I guess. I overworked it, which I didn’t think I could with this little Busch car."

Harvick didn’t get much recognition for his win in Montreal, as overshadowed as it was by the controversy involving Gordon and Australian Marcos Ambrose, whom Gordon spun with two laps remaining.

“This put the exclamation point on it," Harvick said of the victory at Watkins Glen. “To have them hardly talk about you when you win a race is kind of frustrating, but you don’t whine about it.

“You just go back out there."

Results

Fin Driver Laps Status
1 Kevin Harvick 82 Running
2 Jeff Burton 82 Running
3 Kurt Busch 82 Running
4 Paul Menard 82 Running
5 Brad Coleman # 82 Running
6 Matt Kenseth 82 Running
7 Bobby Labonte 82 Running
8 Casey Mears 82 Running
9 Ryan Newman 82 Running
10 Andy Lally 82 Running
11 Greg Biffle 82 Running
12 Boris Said 82 Running
13 Marcos Ambrose # 82 Running
14 Denny Hamlin 82 Running
15 Andy Pilgrim 82 Running
16 David Gilliland 82 Running
17 Stephen Leicht 82 Running
18 Scott Pruett 82 Running
19 Patrick Carpentier 82 Running
20 Todd Kluever 82 Running
21 David Ragan # 82 Running
22 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 82 Running
23 Alex Garcia 82 Running
24 Ron Fellows 81 Running
25 David Reutimann 81 Running
26 Mike Wallace 81 Running
27 Jason Leffler 80 Running
28 Kevin Lepage 80 Running
29 Jorge Goeters 79 Running
30 Brent Sherman 79 Running
31 John Graham 78 Running
32 Carl Edwards 76 Running
33 Juan Pablo Montoya # 68 Accident
34 Steve Wallace 66 Accident
35 Derrike Cope 64 Running
36 Robby Gordon 51 Transmission
37 Kyle Krisiloff # 51 Running
38 Joe Fox 14 Brakes
39 Morgan Shepherd 12 Brakes
40 Scott Gaylord 9 Engine
41 Max Papis 2 Engine