Harvick Wins Brickyard 400

INDIANAPOLIS August 3, 2003; Mike Harris writing for the AP reported that Kevin Harvick turned a tense battle into a runaway Sunday, pulling away in the last 10 laps to win the Brickyard 400.

The biggest problem Harvick had all day came when his right rear tire blew, taking off the fender of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet as he celebrated with victory doughnuts.

"I don't even know if I can explain it. It's so awesome," Harvick said after climbing from his car in Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He took over at the end of the 160-lap race.

Harvick was second, battling Jamie McMurray for the lead and trying to hold off Winston Cup points leader Matt Kenseth and Robbie Gordon on a frantic restart with 16 laps remaining when a multicar crash broke out behind the leaders.

The green flag came back out on lap 151, and Harvick got a great jump. He was 10 car-lengths ahead of second-place Gordon at the end of that lap and just kept racing away.

Harvick wound up 2.754 seconds - about 20 car-lengths - ahead of runner-up Kenseth, who grabbed second place on lap 157, passing McMurray as Gordon faded.

It was Harvick's fourth career victory and first in just over a year.

After winning, he paid tribute to Dale Earnhardt Sr., the driver he replaced after the seven-time Winston Cup champion and former Brickyard winner was killed in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500.

Harvick gave some of the credit for Sunday's win to teammate Gordon.

"Robby did all he could to hold those guys back there, and this one is much his as it is ours," Harvick said.

Referring to the June race in Sonoma, Calif, in which Gordon angered Harvick by passing him under caution as the teammates battled for the lead, Harvick said, "I guess I can't be mad at Robby any more. Maybe we're even now."

McMurray wound up third, followed by three-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon, defending champion Bill Elliott, Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch.

Kenseth came into the race with a solid 232-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the season standings.

The runner-up finish for Kenseth, combined with a 14th-place finish by Earnhardt, turned that margin into 286 points.

"I was too far behind," Kenseth said. "We had a good strategy. I should have blocked a little more, but it was a great job by my guys, a great run, and we were close."

Until a pair of caution flags came out in the final 21 laps, it appeared the race would be the fifth in a row determined by fuel strategy.

About half the drivers on the lead lap had made final stops for two tires and a splash of gas when debris on the track brought out a caution on lap 140. The rest of the leaders then made their stops, and the field was well scrambled when the green flag came back out for lap 145.