BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) – Kevin Harvick stayed out of trouble on and off the track Saturday and held off several challenges from Tony Raines to win the Busch Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Harvick led the final 97 laps of the Channellock 250, passing Scott Wimmer for the lead and hanging on. There were 13 cautions – one short of the race record – for 77 laps, and only 23 cars were running at the end.
It was at this race last year that Harvick first got into trouble with NASCAR. After being knocked out of the race by an accident with Greg Biffle, Harvick waited for Biffle to finish and charged after him on pit road. NASCAR put Harvick on probation.
There was no repeat Saturday: Harvick climbed out of his car grinning, then heaped praise on the runner-up.
“Tony Raines is going to win some races this year,” Harvick said. “He’s a good guy and a good race car driver who hasn’t had a lot of opportunities. He’s going to find a way to get the job done.”
The final caution came out with eight laps to go when Ron Hornaday and Kasey Kahne wrecked. NASCAR stopped the race for seven minutes to clean up the track and the field went green with five laps to go.
Raines, who tapped Harvick from behind at least four times over the final 38 laps in an attempt to pass him, didn’t get a good jump, and Harvick opened up a lead and easily drove his No. 21 Chevrolet to victory.
“We worked so hard yesterday on long runs, and we really thought the car was going to be good on them,” Harvick said. “But there were so many cautions there in the beginning, we just couldn’t catch up to anybody. Once we got a couple of long green-flag runs, we started to move up, and the car really settled in.”
Harvick, the 2001 Busch Series champion, won for the ninth time in his career and third time at Bristol. His last Bristol victory was in August 2001.
Raines tied his career-best finish. He thought he had a chance to win, but his car wasn’t as good after the red-flag stop.
“That was the worst it drove all day,” Raines said. “With about 10 to go, I was starting to reel Kevin in, and I thought we had something to play with. But then on the last restart, the car just got away from me.”
Jason Keller finished third, followed by polesitter David Green and Mike Bliss. Bobby Hamilton Jr., Shane Hmiel, Randy LaJoie, Todd Bodine and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top 10.
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