JOLIET, Ill. — There had never been a repeat winner in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
That all changed when Kevin Harvick drove to an easy victory in Saturday's USG Durock 300.
Harvick, who easily won last year’s series title, added a second Busch victory at the track 45 miles south of downtown Chicago. He also won a Busch race here in 2005.
“It was a struggle with a newly rebuilt car here,” said Harvick, who drove to victory in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.  “This is the same championship team we had here and we just kept working on us. This win is for Carl Edwards and that butt-kicking he was supposed to give us today. Talking smack always comes back to haunt you.”
Edwards was the early leader, but tire issues dropped him to 20th — two laps behind the leader.
“We had a great car and a great run going and had a loose wheel there at the end,” Edwards said. “There might have been a problem with the wheel or something and we had to come in. And then, we suffered a pit-road penalty in that process, and we came in again and finished 20th. But the car was a lot better than that.
“It was still fun to drive, just frustrating.”

HAPPY HARVICK: Kevin Harvick celebrates career victory No. 29 — and third of 2007 — Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway. (Harold Hinson/HHP Photo)

Edwards now has a whopping 716-point lead over Harvick, a Busch part-timer, in the standings.
Harvick scored his 29th-career victory and defeated Matt Kenseth’s Ford by 1.012 seconds. Chevrolet drivers swept positions three through five, with Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch in that order.
Busch led three times for 58 laps but pitted late and questioned the strategy by Hendrick Motorsports while the contending cars stayed on the track. He was victim of a fake from Burton, who made a move like he was going to pit but stayed on the track at the last moment.
“We only have four more months to work on that,” said Busch. “We had a great car that was just awesome. We were off yesterday, guessed at it in qualifying and guessed at it today.”
Harvick’s third Busch victory this season was worth $88,400. He averaged 135.561 miles per hour.
In the end, there was little Kenseth could do to catch Harvick.
“When I had clean air, I tried to run him down,” Kenseth said. “I was just a little on the tight side but couldn’t make anything work to get a run at him.”
Harvick’s team was able to make the most of a car that started off the weekend with problems but developed into a winner.
“The car was bottoming out a little earlier, and they made some adjustments for that,” said team owner Richard Childress. “After they made a stop and got the vibrating wheel off, I knew it was fast. Kevin dug deeper and deeper, and it was fun to watch him win a race like that.”
Harvick likes to dig deep and never give up.
“The nature of this organization is to never quit,” Harvick said. “You need to put yourself in a position to win the race.”