| | Associated Press
MADISON, Ill. -- Rookie Kevin Harvick took the lead from a
faltering Todd Bodine and went on to win the first race of his
Busch Series career Saturday night in the CarQuest Auto Parts 250.
"The last 25 laps, every time I went by, I looked up at the
scoreboard to make sure (the laps remaining) didn't go up instead
of down," Harvick said after the victory at Gateway International
Raceway. "There's been a lot of pressure we've put on ourselves
the last three weeks. Nobody else put pressure on us.
"To finally get it over with, it's a weight off my back. We've
been so close quite a few times, so I'm just happy to be here."
It was the second victory in three races for a Busch rookie. Ron
Hornaday won July 16 in Nazareth, Pa.
Jeff Purvis was second Saturday night, finishing 1.338 seconds
back. He was followed by Bodine, Jason Keller and series points
leader Jeff Green.
Purvis was in a Pontiac, the others in Chevrolets.
Bodine led a 64-lap stretch before coming in on the 168th
circuit, and was first after the rest of the leaders cycled through
their stops. Bodine's tires, however, evidently weren't as
well-matched as his previous set, causing him to wiggle badly in
turn two on lap 66.
Harvick zipped underneath Bodine's nearly out-of-control
Chevrolet, and led the rest of the 200-lap event.
Purvis passed Bodine for second between turns one and two on lap
175, and appeared to be closing ground on Harvick in the closing
laps. Something was going wrong under the hood, though, and Purvis
settled for his second runner-up finish in the last four events.
"With 19 or 20 laps to go, I heard a pop, but I really didn't
think much about it," said Purvis, who also thought Harvick might
have been backing off to save his car. "I thought maybe I'd run
over something on the race track. It happened a couple of times
down the backstretch, and then it consistently got worse."
Harvick averaged 116.595 mph in a race slowed for just 11 laps
by two caution flags. There were 14 lead changes among seven
drivers.
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ALSO SEE
Carquest Auto Parts 250 results
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