| Twin win for Harvicks in Trucks Series finale |
| Updated 11/20/2009 11:52 PM ET |
The Sprint Cup Series regular earned his second victory in as many weeks by winning the Ford 200, a race his No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado dominated before he officially sealed it by blasting by Timothy Peters during a green/white/checkered flag finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Harvick and wife DeLana also earned their second owners trophy, an outcome more or less settled after Kyle Busch's cut tire and pit road penalty midway through the race eliminated Billy Ballew Motorsports from that competition.
RESULTS: Ford 200For good measure, teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. finished one spot higher (eighth) than needed to clinch that scenario for the Harvicks, one week after he clinched an unprecedented fourth driver's championship and second in three years for Kevin Harvick Inc. He and Harvick did separate burnouts on the straightaway before getting their trophies for keeps.
"It feels like a fulfilled year," said Harvick, who claimed his third Truck win this season by leading 108 of 136 laps for a perfect driver rating of 150. "I knew that my job was to go out and lead the most laps and beat Kyle. I thought, barring some crazy circumstances that they knew what they needed to do and couldn't make that happen. It all worked out."
Matt Crafton (Chevy) was second in the race while finishing 187 points behind Hor-naday in the standings. Colin Braun (Ford) was third, followed by Peters and 2006 champion Todd Bodine in Toyotas.
Eight spots back and one lap down in 13th was Busch, who did everything he could give Ballew his first title before a series of mishaps quickly took him out of contention. He qualified eighth but started at the back after an engine change, which mattered none as the Cup regular surged forward from the jump and was seventh after just 20 laps.
Busch eventually passed Harvick on lap 60 and led nine laps before a cut right rear tire forced him to pit for right-side rubber. A pass-through penalty followed because a team member wasn't in contact with the outside tire, knocking him two laps down.
Busch immediately left the track afterward without comment.
It might not have mattered on a night when Harvick's truck and his crew nailed everything, making the final restart a foregone conclusion. Peters stayed out during the caution and paid the price as Harvick, in a new truck with fresh tires, jumped two lengths ahead and cruised to a victory and a championship.
"When you race with these guys you learn a lot, and (Kevin) Harvick is the best of the best," Peters said. "I cleaned my tires off but evidentially it wasn't enough. I made a rookie mistake and spun them too much, but he had new tires and was going to go by us in turn 1 anyway."
Pit notes: Harvick's victory gave him 51 across NASCAR's three national series. KHI won nine Truck races this season. …Johnny Sauter, who finished ninth, was named Raybestos Rookie of the Year. … Hornaday made his 250th Truck start, fifth all time. … Busch ended the season with a series-high seven victories, one more than Hornaday.
| Posted 11/20/2009 10:29 PM ET | |
| Updated 11/20/2009 11:52 PM ET | |









