Kevin Harvick held off Kyle Busch to win the Lucas Oil 150, under a green/white/checkers finish that ended under caution Friday night at Phoenix International Raceway.
But it was overshadowed by his teammate Ron Hornaday clinching his record fourth championship by finishing fourth and ahead of Matt Crafton in eighth.
What a sweet deal for the Truck fans to see the dueling burnout, one were Hornaday just lit them up to the cheer of the fans and laid down a signature burnout.
Harvick in the brand new 2010 Silverado, with a new EGR engine just babied it, not to damage the new truck or the engine.
Harvick overcame a misque on Lap six to battle his way back for the win and had the truck to beat.
It was Harvick's fourth win at Phoenix, it came on his 100th career start and he successfully defended his race win from 2008.
Johnny Sauter in the No. 13 Fun Sand/Rodney Adkins/Curb Records Chevrolet starts on the pole and it was his second pole of the season.
Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Longhorn Chevrolet starts from the outside pole position.
Ron Hornaday in the No. 33 VFW Chevrolet starts third, Kyle Busch in the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/Graceway Toyota starts fourth and Aric Almirola in the No. 15 GracewayPharmacueticals/AKawareness.com Toyota was fifth.
At race time, it was 65 degrees, and partly cloudy. 36 trucks started the race and the pit window is 80-90 laps.
Kudos to SpeedTV's Krista Voda for a very entertaining and wacky Set-Up Show on top of Monument Hill.
From the drop of green, it was a very entertaining race, with Harvick leading the first lap by a nose over Sauter.
But Sauter would battle his way back to the lead, which saw Harvick fall back to third on Lap Four as Busch would pass him for second on the high-side.
Harvick was already fighting a loose condition, while battling Almirola to hang onto third and would get side by side with Almirola.
Coming out of turn four on Lap Eight, Harvick spun after getting into oil and bouncing off of Almirola.
It would bring out the first caution, while Harvick thought Busch was leaking oil on the track. Harvick came to pit road, took a splash of fuel and to pull the sheet metal out.
SpeedTV showed it may have come from Jamie Dick in the No. 08 VIVA Auto Group/Inventory Sales Co. Chevrolet, who had smoke coming out of his truck.
Sauter took the green on the restart on Lap 13, but Busch made quick work passing him for the lead.
NASCAR would warn Busch to stay off the bumpers, as he used his to get Sauter loose for the lead.
By Lap 23, Busch held a half-second lead on Sauter in second and Hornaday in third was 1.5 seconds back.
After 27 Laps, the top five was; Busch leading by 0.686 seconds, Sauter is second, Hornaday is third, Crafton is fourth and Almirola fifth.
The second caution came out on Lap 34, for Brad Sweet in the No. 90 Great Clips Toyota getting loose in turn three and spinning down into the infield.
Once pit road opened on Lap 35, everyone came down pit road making the first of two stops. While the majority made two stops, for tires and fuel, a few took just made one stop for fuel.
Points leader Hornaday would be penalized by NASCAR as they started fueling without the catch can in place and would restart at the tailend of the lead lap.
They had pitted for just fuel, but due to the penalty they would make a second for tires and would restart 21st.
On the Lap 39 restart, Busch took the green with Braun in second pressuring him for the lead. But with Almirola in third, side by side with Braun coming into turn three, Busch was able to get away.
On Lap 44, Almirola, running in second, blew by Busch for the lead and pulled away from him. While Busch took just fuel, Almirola took tires and fuel on the first pit stop.
By Lap 47, Almirola held a 1.783 second lead on Busch in second. Harvick has recovered from his early miscue and is running seventh and Hornaday was running in 17th.
On Lap 48, Harvick made it to fourth, as he passed both Sauter and Crafton coming out of turn two and he just blew by the two on the low-side.
After 52 Laps, the top five was; Almirola leading, Busch second, Harvick third, Sauter fourth and Braun fifth. Hornaday was 16th at the time.
On Lap 59, T.J. Bell in the No. 11 Fueled by Fans Toyota in 14th, and David Starr in the No. 24 Zachry Toyota made slight contact.
With Starr getting loose right in front of Hornaday in 16th, and the wily veteran just passed him on the bottom.
By Lap 63, Almirola would lead by 3.3 seconds on Busch in second, and Harvick in third is four seconds back.
On Lap 68, while Almirola lead, Busch in second had Harvick in third are racing side by side for the position.
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