Racebeat (08/04/03)
by Rich Romer

NASCAR Winston Cup: Kevin Harvick turned a tense battle into a runaway, 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. Harvick was second, battling Jamie McMurray for the lead and trying to hold off Winston Cup points leader Matt Kenseth and Robby 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. 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.