Martinsville, VA (My Sportsbook) - Kevin Harvick tapped Kyle Busch out of the way for the lead with 11 laps to go and then held off teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. in a green-white-checkered finish to win Monday's rain-delayed Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Busch led a race-high 139 laps, but Harvick chased down his fellow Sprint Cup competitor within the final 25 laps. After the two made contact in the closing stages, Harvick made the pass and grabbed the top spot for the first time. Busch suffered minor damage from the contact.
When a caution came with less than eight laps to go for an incident involving Norm Benning and Hermie Sadler, Busch was penalized for crossing the pit-road commitment line.
Hornaday moved up to the second position for the final two-lap shootout, but could not catch Harvick before the race ended under caution.
"There at the end I was just focused on getting by (Kyle Busch), and as the laps wound down, the left rear quarter panel kept getting a little further caved in I finally was able to get up underneath him," Harvick said. "I didn't want to wreck him, but the closer it got the more pressure we had to put on him, so you never know what would have happened. Just a fun day. These trucks are fun to race and that makes it fun to come here."
Harvick recorded his fourth career victory in the series. His most recent win came in November at Phoenix.
Hornaday had to overcome a few incidents though. On the opening lap, Shane Sieg, who started on the outside pole, had problems on the start when his truck did not get up to speed. Hornaday bumped into the back of him, with Hornaday's truck sustaining slight damage to the front bumper.
Hornaday also spun out Johnny Benson while the two were battling for the second position on lap 49.
"I had to go down and apologize to Johnny," Hornaday said. "I got under there and hit the curve and spun him out but I hated to see it happen."
During a caution for debris with less than 120 laps to go, Hornaday made a pit stop for new tires, which put him back in the field. He rallied for a second- place run, giving Kevin Harvick Inc. a one-two finish at Martinsville.
"What a great day for KHI to finish one-two behind the boss," he said. "Kyle was slowing us up. I burned my brakes up following him, and when I got to him, I had to let him go a little bit to run him back down. Heck I'll take second. I was too busy watching (Mike) Skinner on the restart, and he laid back so I laid back and then Harvick took off and I spun the tires."
Mike Skinner finished third, followed by Benson and Rick Crawford, who started on the pole and led the first 78 laps.
Stacy Compton, Dennis Setzer, Brian Scott, Matt Crafton and Ken Schrader completed the top-10.
Busch ended up finishing 17th and quickly left the race track in disgust.
"I didn't know he was trying to knock the fender back on the back straightaway," Busch's crew chief Doug George said. "I saw him do it on the front straightway. He was just trying to get the fender off the tire. He was penalized for crossing the commitment line."
Busch had won the last two races at Atlanta and California. Busch remained the leader in the series standings, with a 38-point advantage over Todd Bodine, who finished 18th.
Bodine was involved in two separate accidents. While Harvick passed him for second place on lap 174, he nearly lost control and then made contact with the wall. He experienced a tire rub on the right front. Bodine and Terry Cook spun and crashed on the second to last lap, which ended the event.
The next race is scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at Kansas Speedway.