Harvick edges teammate to win Goody’s 250
Kevin Harvick held off Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer by .271 seconds Saturday to win the Goody’s 250 NASCAR Busch race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway — the first series race at the track since 1994.
The victory was Harvick’s series-leading fourth of the season. Harvick is one of six Nextel Cup drivers who are running full-time schedules in both that series and Busch this season.
It was Harvick’s 21st career Busch win and ties him for seventh place all-time with Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Harry Gant. Mark Martin leads the series with 47 victories.
Harvick’s No. 21 Chevrolet was by far the dominant car, leading 149 of 250 laps. He did, however, have to navigate several tricky restarts as the race was marred by a track-record 19 cautions covering 87 laps.
“We’ve come pretty close here a couple times in the trucks and never were able to finish it off,” said Harvick, who picked up his first career win at the track. “It was just an awesome day, not just for me but for all of RCR. All these guys built brand new short track cars and to have it come down to myself and Clint, that was pretty awesome.”
Over the final 10 laps Bowyer repeatedly got close to Harvick’s rear bumper, but never pushed hard enough to wedge his teammate out of the racing groove.
“The last two weeks I’ve had the dominant car and got burnt with it,” said Bowyer, who finished fifth last week at New Hampshire.
Formula One
Kimi Raikkonen upstaged Michael Schumacher in qualifying and grabbed the pole position in the German Grand Prix.
Raikkonen nipped Schumacher, gaining his first pole of the season and souring what could be Schumacher’s final race at home.
“We are still on the front row, but obviously I would have preferred to be on the pole in my home Grand Prix,” Schumacher said. “I hope it’s because we were carrying more fuel.”
He had the fastest lap of the day in the second qualifying session but then added fuel before his final attempt that counted. It was an indication that Schumacher might plan for a later pit stop in today’s 67-lap race.
Schumacher was still far ahead of defending Formula One champion and points leader Fernando Alonso, who was seventh in qualifying.
“It’s a great situation,” Schumacher said. “We’ve had a very good weekend so far.”
Indy Racing League
Catch us if you can.
That’s the message from Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. to the rest of the Indy Racing League field for today’s Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
The Marlboro Team Penske pair dominated qualifying at MIS in their red and white Dallara/Hondas and hope to do the same in today’s race.
Castroneves won the pole with a run of 216.777 m.p.h. Hornish was second fastest at 216.466.
The next best speed was a 214.763 from Andretti Green’s Tony Kanaan and a surprising 214.540 for fourth-best from Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter.