Saturday, July 14 Chicagoland Speedway Joliet, IL

Kevin Harvick celebrates his win with a burnout. More pix at the end of this page...

Harvick Gets Busch Win at Chicagoland
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

JOLIET, Ill. (July 14, 2007)— Kevin Harvick parlayed pit strategy into his third victory in 15 Busch Series starts this year, holding off Matt Kenseth by 1.012 seconds to win the USG Durock 300 Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Under the sixth and final caution of the race on Lap 167, Harvick and Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton, who finished third, feinted a move into the pits but shot back onto the track just in front of the commitment line.

Kyle Busch, who had the dominant car and led a race-high 58 laps, continued onto pit road, gave up the lead and exited in eighth place for the restart on Lap 171, with Burton and Harvick in the top two positions, respectively. Busch climbed to fifth at the finish but gave up a chance to win the race.

Burton said trying to trap Busch on pit road was part of his strategy.

"Yes, I won't lie," Burton said. "We were trying to drag a few cars with us. But we made our intentions clear. We said, 'Don't pit, don't pit.' I'm surprised they weren't scanning us, but I think maybe they had decided that pitting was their best option at that point...

"I thought we were better off with the 5 on pit road. Now I'm leading, and that's where you want to be, leading the race with 35 to go."

Harvick, however, passed Burton through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 174, and Kenseth dropped Burton to third with a pass on Lap 183.

"I think the 5 car had the race won there, but when they pitted, they kind of opened the door for Kevin, Burton and us," Kenseth said.

Busch "definitely had a good car," echoed Harvick, who won the 29th Busch Series race of his career. "Obviously, him pitting meant we didn't have to race him there at the end. Being the leader is always a tough thing because whatever you do, everyone else does the opposite."

Busch was unhappy with crew chief Alan Gustafson's call for a pit stop under the final caution.

"We only have four more months to work on it," Busch said, referring to his lame-duck status at Hendrick Motorsports.

Denny Hamlin's crew had to change a dying battery under caution on Lap 95. Though Hamlin got out of the pits without losing a lap, he restarted 15th on Lap 99. The polesitter worked his way through the field, and on Lap 133 he passed Casey Mears for sixth place.

Hamlin couldn't improve from that position, however, and finished seventh.

Points leader Carl Edwards appeared destined for another solid top-10 run, but a cut tire forced him to the pits on Lap 177. That, combined with a subsequent pass-through penalty for blending with race traffic too early after exiting the pits, cost Edwards two laps and dropped him to 20th at the finish.

Complete race results and point standings in the Event Stats section below...

Checkered Flag Fast Facts

• Kevin Harvick won the USG Durarock 300, his 29th victory in 181 NASCAR Busch Series races.
• This is his third victory and 13th top-10 finish in 15 races in 2007.
• This is his second victory and third top-10 finish in five races at Chicago.
• Matt Kenseth (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in six NASCAR Busch Series races at Chicago.
• Jeff Burton (third) posted his fifth top-10 in five races NASCAR Busch Series at Chicago – all third-place finishes.
• Brad Keselowski (14th) was the highest finishing rookie in his first race for the JR Motorsports U.S. Navy Chevrolet.
• Carl Edwards finished 20th but still leads the NASCAR Busch Series point standings by 716 points over Harvick.

Broadcast Times

Final Practice: Friday, July 13 (ESPN2 at 6:45 p.m./AT, 5:45 p.m./ET)

Qualifying: Saturday, July 14 (ESPN2, TSN-HD at 12 p.m/AT, 11 a.m./ET

Pre-Race Show: Saturday, July 14 (ABC at 3:30 p.m./AT, 2:30 p.m./ET)

Race: Saturday, July 14 (ABC at 4 p.m./AT, 3 p.m./ET)

Event Stats PDF files unless otherwise noted

Entry List

Friday First Practice

Friday Rookie Practice

Friday Final Practice

Qualifying Order

Qualifying Results

Starting Lineup

Race Results

Point Standings

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: USG Durock 300
The Place: Chicagoland Speedway
The Date: July 14, 20071
The Time: 4 p.m./AT, 3 p.m./ET
TV: ABC, 3:30 p.m./AT, 2:30 p.m./ET
Track Layout: 1.5-mile tri-oval
Race Purse: $1,544,672
2006 Winner: Casey Mears
2006 Pole: Carl Edwards
Schedule (local time): Fri.: 1:10-2:10 p.m. – Practice; 2:15-2:45 p.m. – Rookie Practice; 4:45 p.m. – Final Practice (one hour, time permitting). Sat.: 10:05 a.m. – Qualifying (Impound).
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Green Flag Notes

• With its 10th win of the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series season having been registered last Saturday at Daytona by Kyle Busch (No. 5 Delphi Chevrolet), Chevrolet not only continued to lead the Bill France Performance Cup standings, but extended its double-digit win streak to 16 consecutive seasons. Chevy had 10 wins in 1992 to begin the streak – the longest in each of NASCAR’s three national series – and averaged nearly 18 wins through last season. Ford remains in second place in the manufacturer standings, 20 points behind Chevrolet and has one win at Chicagoland, in 2003 with Bobby Hamilton Jr., who returns to the track in a Ford for Saturday’s race. Dodge ranks third in the standings, four points ahead of fourth-place Toyota. Dodge has won two of the last three races at Chicago while Toyota makes its series debut there.
• INSIGHT FROM JOE BALASH, NASCAR BUSCH SERIES DIRECTOR - “At Chicagoland, like at most of the 1.5-mile speedways we run on, the majority of the teams will try to make the best use of their “coil bind” set-up, where the front spring is fully compressed. Teams want to find the best balance so the car will rotate in the corners and turn as easily as possible. The coil bind makes the car look like it’s riding directly on the front bumper; the nose seals right to the track giving the best aero advantage to the team that manages to use their shocks to hold the car down the best. The driver will need to do his part, too, using the brakes to “set” the car down on the spring. They won’t want it to slam, instead there needs to be a smooth compressing of the spring.”
• JR Motorsports will have a new driver in the No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet this weekend at Chicagoland. Brad Keselowski, who most recently competed in the NASCAR Busch Series for Keith Coleman Racing, replaces Shane Huffman for the next three events. Huffman was relieved of his duties last week and team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the No. 88 Chevy at Daytona International Speedway. Keselowski, a 24-year-old native of Rochester Hills, Mich., drove in 13 races for KCR this season before the team suspended its operations due to owner Keith Coleman’s medical issues. Keselowski, who finished 12th in the 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings running for his father’s team, posted his career-best finish of 24th at Dover last month. He competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series two weeks ago at Memphis Motorsports Park for Germain Racing when the team needed a last-minute replacement for Ted Musgrave. Keselowski scored the pole, led four times for a total of 62 laps and contended for the win.
• Although Stephen Leicht (No. 90 CitiFinancial Ford) is ranked a career-best ninth in the standings, he’s fallen into a mini-slump following his landmark win at Kentucky Speedway late last month. The 20-year-old was a respectable 14th at The Milwaukee Mile after his Kentucky win, but has finished 25th and 27th in his last two races at New Hampshire International Speedway and Daytona, respectively. Leicht has a daunting task in front of him as he works to gain back momentum – he will compete at Chicagoland for the first time in his NASCAR Busch Series career. Last season, Leicht’s then-teammate Elliott Sadler drove the No. 90 Ford in this event.
• Keller Approaching More Milestones: Jason Keller (No. 11 Dutch Quality Stone Chevrolet) returns to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2005 and is once again on the precipice of breaking series records. The first series driver to earn $9 and $10 million in winnings is also second in all-time series starts with 408 – the only driver other than Tommy Houston (417) to surpass the 400-start mark. Keller is $23,189 from the $11 million threshold as well and could break through at Chicago. His current combined CJM Racing and Brewco Motorsports schedule also could make the all-time starts leader before the end of the 2007 season. The 37-year-old Keller, with 10 career victories, doesn’t want to look too far into the future, however. “I try not to think about [the starts record],” he said. “I don’t want to jinx myself. The focus with this team (CJM) is to go out there and try to build on our program. We’ve learned a lot but there is still a ways to go.”
• Interesting Combo At Iowa: Iowa Speedway – the 7/8-mile tri-oval in Newton, Iowa designed by former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion and current NASCAR Busch Series team owner Rusty Wallace – will host a Rolex Sports Car Series race Friday night with an interesting duo as participants. Mark Martin, the all-time NASCAR Busch Series wins (47) and poles (30) leader – and Patrick Carpentier, who announced this week his intentions to participate in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 in Montreal on Aug. 4 – both are scheduled to compete at Iowa. The race will be Martin’s debut in a Rolex Series car while Carpentier, a Rolex Series veteran, will debut in the NASCAR Busch Series at Montreal.

Photo Gallery


Harvick makes a pit stop en route to the win...


Celebrating in Victory Lane...

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.