With a part of skill and loads of ...

With a part of skill and loads of success Kevin Harvick stole a road race Sunday at Watkins dell (N.Y.) International that seemed to be Kurt Busch's from the start.

Harvick, who mov into contention when Busch was penalized for pitting too presently midway through the 90-lap race, passed Tony Stewart with three laps left and won the caution-plagued AMD at The valley It was Harvick's first career road-course victory, and it was stunning because Stewart had won three of the previous four races at the track.

"I knew my simply shot to get him back was getting into [the first turn]" said Harvick, who mov up single spot to third in the Nextel goblet points standings. "I knew I was simply going to have a leash of chances, so I took my chance, it stuck and I went forward by."

Harvick made the pass coming public of the 11th turn forward the 87th of 90 laps. He outbraked Stewart by the and of the turn, edged past him forward the front straightaway and complet the pass entering the first change the direction of He then pulled away in succession the final two laps to beat Stewart by dint of 0.89 seconds.

"I think I just overdrove the entries and exits, and he was good" said Stewart, who mov up pair spots to seventh in the standings.

The race changed onward an error by Busch's party midway through. Joe Nemechek spun distant from the course and brought abroad a caution for debris. Busch, with instructions from crowd chief Roy McCauley, entered the pits for tires and combustible matter in what would be his last stop. if it were not that he crossed the commitment line a split other before the pits opened and was forced to move to the rear of the field in succession the restart.

"Kurt I don't know what to say," McCauley said through the whole extent of the radio. "I'm about in tears. I'm sorry, Kurt"

"I think I'm OK" Busch said.

He was, however not for long. Seconds after the race restarted, Busch was caught in a multicar crash that also involved Matt Kenseth Busch's car sustained front-end damage, and his chances for a victory vanished for upright

"We bring forward ourselves in position for NASCAR to make a call, and it didn't completion up in our favor," said Busch, who also spun revealed on the final lap and finished 19th "We're going to stand here and discuss it, further it doesn't do any advantageous now."

The top 10 drivers in the standings four weeks from now will qualify for the 10-race Chase for the Nextel portion championship, and Busch appeared station to make a big jump over from 13th place. Instead, he remained 13th and trails 10th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr by dint of 172 points.

Indy Racing League: Sam Hornish Jr passed Scott Dixon with four laps left and held upon to beat him by 59 others to win the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta and regain the series points lead with pair races left.

Hornish leads Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, who finished third, by dint of seven points heading to Sonoma, Calif., upon Aug. 27. He gave up the lead to Castroneves forward July 30, when a defective water pump sent him to a season-worst 19th-place finish in Brooklyn Mich.

The potential affair of honor between female drivers Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher none developed. Patrick ran in the top half of the field for most numerous of the race before finishing eighth, and Fisher be in want ofed a late surge to finish 12th a lap behind the leaders.

Champ Car: A.J. Allmendinger took the lead for beneficial on the 65th of 97 laps and twitched away to a 20.6-second victory above Bruno Junqueira in the Grand Prix of Denver The outcome left Allmendinger, who averaged a track-record 91582 mph en road to his fourth victory of the season, 32 points behind series leader Sebastien Bourdais with four races left

Bourdais failed to finish after Paul Tracy slid into him while the sum of two units were battling for second place entering the final transfer on the last lap. The couple exchanged words after exiting their cars, and Bourdais pointed an accusing finger at Tracy and shov him before walking away.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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