Harvick Scores Second Busch Series Victory at Chicagoland Speedway

Harvick took the lead from teammate Jeff Burton with 27 laps to go, then held off Matt Kenseth to claim his victory.

Photo courtesy: NASCAR.com

JOLIET, Ill. - Kevin Harvick became the first NASCAR Busch Series driver to win two victories at Chicagoland Speedway in the USG DUROCK 300 on Saturday afternoon.

This also marked Harvick's third top-10 finish in five Busch Series races at the 1.5-mile track.

Along with two Busch Series wins, Harvick has also posted two consecutive NEXTEL Cup series victories in 2001 and 2002.

"Chicagoland Speedway is just one of those places that fits my driving style," said Harvick. "Everything that we do to the car, it just seems like it fits this particular race track. We always seem to be competitive here and I feel like our Cup car is very competitive for tomorrow. This track is a place where we have been successful, so we definitely enjoy coming here."

Harvick took the lead from teammate Jeff Burton with 27 laps to go, then held off Matt Kenseth to claim his victory.

Busch Series points leader Carl Edwards, who came into Saturday's race with a commanding 798-point lead over fellow Cup series regular Harvick, was running in the top-10 late in the race but had to pull off the track with 23 laps to go to serve a NASCAR penalty for a procedural violation by his pit crew. Edwards ended up finishing 20th.

Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin was running in the top-five when his battery started going dead near the race's halfway point, forcing him to spend extra time in the pits to change the battery.

Hamlin dropped out of the top-10 after the extended pit stop, but still managed to score a seventh place finish.

Brad Keselowski was the highest finishing rookie in his first race for the JR Motorsports U.S. Navy Chevrolet team.

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