Racebeat (07/21/03)
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup: Jimmie Johnson held off Kevin Harvick by 1.6 seconds to win the New England 300 NASCAR race. Johnson and Harvick both drove Chevrolets. Series points leader Matt Kenseth finished third in a Ford. It was the third straight NASCAR race where fuel economy determined the outcome. The winning team successfully gambled they would have enough fuel to make it to the finish after pitting with about 90 laps to go at the one-mile New Hampshire International Speedway oval. Johnson took the lead on lap 265 and was not challenged until the checkered flag was waved. He told reporters his crew chief Chad Knaus made him a little anxious about the outcome. "Chad first said we were plus one lap (to the finish).

Then, as we got further into the run, he said to start to conserve more and more (fuel) and I started to get worried. I can't believe that fuel strategy came in to win this race," said Johnson in praise of his crew chief. "Chad gets MVP (most valuable player) of the race for making the pit call." It was Johnson's second victory of the season and he became only the third repeat winner this year. Harvick and Kurt Busch both have three victories in the Winston Cup series. Kenseth (2,848) now leads the series standings by 234 points from Jeff Gordon (2,614), who finished 24th Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was sixth behind Ryan Newman and Robby Gordon, held on to third place in the standings with 2,575 points.