Sprint Cup regular Kevin Harvick moonlighted Friday night for an overtime Camping World Truck Series victory that triggered a duel celebration under the sliver of a moon over Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Harvick, dominant in a third triumph in only his sixth 2009 start, had to steer past Timothy Peters moments after a green-flag restart triggered a green-white-checkered flag shootout to claim the Ford 200 trophy. MiamiHerald.com
Harvick, who came to the pits for tires under the final caution on Lap 129 of 136, was a double winner Friday night, given that the truck he fields for Ron Hornaday locked up the series owners’ championship with an eighth-place finish. Hornaday clinched his record fourth drivers’ championship last Friday at Phoenix.
“Our goal was to go out and lead the most laps and win the race,” said Harvick, who led 108 of the 136 laps. “I think everybody was concerned about their tires [late in the race], and there weren’t very many trucks on the lead lap, so we came down for four tires [while Peters remained on the track].
Matt Crafton finished second and Colin Braun third, as both drivers also passed Peters, who ran fourth, on the final two-lap dash. NASCAR
Kevin Harvick went into the pit after Ryan Sieg went into the wall and brought out a caution flag with seven laps left. Harvick took four tires, exited pit road first and lined up just behind Timothy Peters — who took a risk by staying out — for a green-white-checkered finish.
“I knew the 17 was a sitting duck there with four tires on our truck,” Kevin Harvick said. “So, it was a lot of fun.”
NASCAR Truck Series: Ford 200 at Homestead - Race Results
Hornaday joined an elite list of drivers who have four national series championships, joining names like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon.
“To come here and win them both ... good night all around for KHI,” Hornaday said. “Pretty cool.” The Associated Press
Kevin Harvick Inc. came in with a 60-point lead over Billy Ballew Motorsports in the owners’ standings, but thanks to Kyle Busch’s worst-to-first climb, they were even at the midpoint Friday night.
Busch qualified eighth, then had to start at the back of the 36-truck pack because of an engine change.
Ordinarily, that might be devastating. For Busch, who came in with 11 top-five finishes in 14 Truck Series starts this season, all the lost ground was made up in about 10 minutes.
Instead, his real trouble came later.
Busch’s hopes of winning the owners’ championship in Ballew’s No. 51 Toyota disappeared on Lap 82, when Busch came to the pits to replace a cut tire. To compound the problem, Busch had to serve a pass-through penalty when his crew failed to carry the damaged tire to the pit wall before Busch left the stall.
It dropped him to 22nd, two laps down and at that point, an owners’ race that was even a few moments earlier saw KHI holding a 108-point advantage. Busch finished 13th, one lap off the lead. NASCAR
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