LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- David Green held off a hard charge from
Kevin Harvick to win at New Hampshire International Speedway on
Saturday and retake the lead in the Busch Series standings.
Harvick, who started from the pole, led 152 of the 200 laps of
the New England 200 and looked unbeatable. But a caution for debris
on the track bunched up the field and gave Green a chance to pass
him.
He did, pushing his Pontiac past Harvick's Chevrolet with 45
laps to go. Harvick then tried several times to pass Green, but
never could, and Green raced off to his second win of the year and
seventh of his career.
Green became the 17th different winner in 17 Busch Series events
at New Hampshire.
"He raced me clean and I thought he was going to rattle my
cage," Green said. "But I've been doing this a long time and I
was looking forward to racing him. He was clean."
Green, who led the Busch standings for four weeks earlier this
season, came into the race trailing Scott Riggs by 23 points.
But Riggs finished 14th, and Green jumped him in the standings.
The 1994 Busch Series champion now has a 36-point lead over Riggs
in the standings.
Harvick finished second and fellow Winston Cup regular Matt
Kenseth -- the series points leader -- was third.
By competing in the Busch race, the two got a little extra edge
on the competition before Sunday's Winston Cup race. The track
surface has been under question since it seemed to separate in the
July race here last season, but the track has been repaved and few
know what to expect in the Cup race.
"There wasn't a bunch of sealer peeling up, so that's good,"
Harvick said. "And there's a couple of grooves out there, so it
seems OK right now. But we'll wait and see."
Brian Vickers finished fourth and was followed by Scott Wimmer
and Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Hamilton caused a wreck earlier in the race when he made contact
with Mike Bliss, who was not very pleased with the young driver
afterward.
"He's got a 10-foot ego, a 4-foot body, and it ain't working
too good right now," Bliss said.
Jason Keller, Ron Hornaday, Kasey Kahne and Stacy Compton
rounded out the top 10.
New England 200 Results
At New Hampshire International Speedway
Pos.
Start
Driver
Make
Laps
Winnings
1.
4
David Green
Pontiac
200
$55,730
2.
1
Kevin Harvick
Chevrolet
200
$32,555
3.
25
Matt Kenseth
Ford
200
$21,195
4.
6
Brian Vickers
Chevrolet
200
$30,960
5.
9
Scott Wimmer
Chevrolet
200
$28,210
6.
8
Bobby Hamilton Jr.
Ford
200
$25,710
7.
7
Jason Keller
Ford
200
$24,160
8.
5
Ron Hornaday Jr.
Chevrolet
200
$23,760
9.
13
Kasey Kahne
Ford
200
$18,135
10.
12
Stacy Compton
Chevrolet
200
$19,210
11.
14
Ashton Lewis Jr.
Chevrolet
200
$17,885
12.
19
Tim Fedewa
Chevrolet
200
$14,560
13.
35
Dave Blaney
Ford
200
$12,765
14.
2
Scott Riggs
Ford
199
$22,960
15.
10
Shane Hmiel
Chevrolet
199
$16,655
16.
36
Jeff Burton
Ford
199
$12,010
17.
32
Tim Sauter
Chevrolet
199
$11,885
18.
30
Damon Lusk
Dodge
199
$12,760
19.
16
Coy Gibbs
Chevrolet
195
$15,730
20.
22
Larry Gunselman
Chevrolet
195
$16,480
21.
21
Dana White
Ford
194
$13,610
22.
23
Jason White
Chevrolet
182
$15,580
23.
3
Jamie McMurray
Dodge
181
$11,835
24.
41
Bill Hoff
Chevrolet
180
$11,470
25.
27
Johnny Sauter
Chevrolet
177
$15,555
26.
33
Mike McLaughlin
Chevrolet
170
$11,400
27.
15
Joey Clanton
Pontiac
167
$20,885
28.
24
Mike Harmon
Chevrolet
153
$15,355
29.
18
Kevin Grubb
Dodge
142
$15,315
30.
29
Ron Barfield Jr.
Ford
137
$11,360
31.
17
Joe Nemechek
Chevrolet
113
$11,220
32.
38
Casey Atwood
Chevrolet
111
$11,205
33.
11
Mike Bliss
Chevrolet
86
$15,535
34.
20
Tammy Jo Kirk
Ford
57
$13,160
35.
28
Derrike Cope
Ford
36
$13,140
36.
40
Norm Benning
Chevrolet
26
$11,120
37.
37
Morgan Shepherd
Chevrolet
21
$11,100
38.
26
Jason Schuler
Ford
19
$15,100
39.
31
Brad Teague
Ford
15
$11,060
40.
42
Josh Richeson
Ford
8
$11,040
41.
39
Jeff Spraker
Pontiac
7
$11,020
42.
43
AJ Alsup
Chevrolet
5
$11,000
43.
34
Justin Ashburn
Chevrolet
5
$10,976
Race Statistics Winner's Average Speed: 108.005 mph. Time of Race: 1 hour, 57 minutes, 33 seconds. Margin of Victory: 0.474. Caution Flags: 6 for 24 laps. Lead Changes: 3 among 3 drivers. Lap Leaders: K.Harvick 1-141; J.Sauter 142-143; K.Harvick
144-154; D.Green 155-200. Points Leaders
1, D.Green 2,748. 2, S.Riggs 2,712. 3, B.Vickers 2,682. 4,
R.Hornaday Jr. 2,676. 5, J.Keller 2,657. 6, B.Hamilton Jr. 2,584.
7, T.Bodine 2,467. 8, S.Wimmer 2,396. 9, J.Sauter 2,385. 10,
S.Hmiel 2,358.
