| |  | | CIA Stock Photo | Though ESPN and NASCAR statistics disagreed on when it happened officially, Edwards had locked up the title by the time the race reached Lap 162. | | | | IT'S OVER | Kevin Harvick wins race, but Edwards clinches Busch title | |
| | By Reid Spencer / Sporting News NASCAR Wire Servic FORT WORTH, TX -- Kevin Harvick won the battle. Carl Edwards won the war.
Harvick streaked across the finish line 3.486 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch to win Saturday's O'Reilly Challenge NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Harvick won his series-best fourth race at Texas, his sixth of the season and the 32nd of his career, breaking a tie with Jack Ingram for second on the all-time Busch Series win list.
With a 531-point lead entering Saturday's race, Edwards accomplished what had become inevitable, his first series championship. With an 11th-place finish, he closed out second-place David Reutimann to give Roush Fenway Racing its first NASCAR title and Jack Roush his second championship in the Busch Series.
Though ESPN and NASCAR statistics disagreed on when it happened officially, Edwards had locked up the title by the time the race reached Lap 162. With Harvick a runaway winner last year, it marked the second straight season a full-time Nextel Cup driver has won the Busch Series championship.
Edwards also will be the last in a line of 19 different Busch Series champions over 26 years, given that Nationwide assumes sponsorship of the series next year.
"It feels great," Edwards. "The first half of the year was so spectacular.
We had luck on our side. It's just amazing. I've lived two completely different lives. I was here at Texas Motor Speedway in 2000 with Mike Mittler, working on his truck.
"So to be standing out there on pit road with the championship trophy is just amazing."
Harvick took the lead on Lap 166 when frontrunner Greg Biffle came to the pits with what he thought -- erroneously -- was a flat tire. From that point on, it was no contest.
Denny Hamlin ran third, Clint Bowyer fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth.
Rookie Brad Keselowski finished sixth, followed by Tony Stewart, who had the race's dominant car until a mishap on Lap 111 slowed his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet.
"Just to be up there with Jack Ingram and Mark Martin and all the guys who made the Busch Series what it is, that's pretty special," said Harvick, who is 15 wins behind Martin, the series leader.
During a green-flag run that lasted from Lap 27 to Lap 128, Stewart opened a lead that reached eight seconds over Harvick, who was running second. On Lap 111, however, at the end of the backstretch, the right front of Stewart's No. 18 Chevrolet clipped the rear of the lapped car of Kyle Krisiloff, punching a hole through the headlight decal on Stewart's car.
From that point until the yellow flag flew for debris in Turn 3 on Lap 128, Stewart's lead shrank at a rate of roughly three-tenths of a second per lap.
Hamlin passed Harvick for second position on Lap 121 as the two drivers closed on the leader.
Stewart, who led 114 of the 200 laps, made an extra pit stop for repairs under the caution and restarted 13th on Lap 133. By then, there were only 15 cars on the lead lap.
| | Posted November 06, 2007 , 4:19 pm EST
Last Updated November 06, 2007 , 4:20 pm EST | | | | | | |
