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Harvick Wraps Up Truck Season With Homestead Win

POSTED: 6:05 pm HST November 20, 2009

(Sports Network) - Kevin Harvick celebrated his Camping World Truck Series owners' championship in style Friday night by winning the season- ending Ford 200 in dominating fashion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Harvick ran in front for 108 of 136 laps, but had to pass Timothy Peters for the lead just after the final restart with two laps remaining. He then held off Matt Crafton by one second for his third victory of the season. Harvick also won last week's race at Phoenix.

A late-race caution setup the two-lap overtime finish. Harvick and several other drivers on the lead lap pitted for new tires, while Peters took a gamble and remained on the track prior to the restart.

"I knew we had a big cushion with all the lap trucks in between us, so we put four tires on," Harvick said. "I knew [Peters] was a sitting duck there with four new tires on our truck."

Ron Hornaday Jr. already clinched the drivers' championship with a fourth- place finish at Phoenix. The owners' title had yet to be decided, as Hornaday's No.33 Kevin Harvick Inc. team held a 60-point lead over the No.51 team of Billy Ballew Motorsports prior to Homestead.

Hornaday finished eighth, while Kyle Busch, who drove the No.51 truck to a series-high seven wins this season, finished 13th. Busch had to start from the rear of the field due to an engine change. He later suffered a cut tire and had to pit unexpectedly. NASCAR slapped him with a drive-through penalty after a tire violation during his stop. He

Busch finished one lap down in 13th, which allowed KHI to win the title by 73 points over Ballew.

"To close out the season like this is really what we wanted to do," Harvick added.

Crafton passed pole sitter Colin Braun on the final lap to finish second. Braun's third-place run allowed him to end the season fifth in points. The top-five drivers will be honored at the series' annual awards banquet Monday in Miami Beach.

Peters ended up finishing fourth, and Todd Bodine, last year's race winner here, took the fifth spot. Mike Skinner was sixth and David Starr seventh.

Johnny Sauter locked up rookie of the year honors in the series with his ninth-place finish. T.J. Bell completed the top-10.

Hornaday ended the year 187 points ahead of second-place Crafton.

"If it wasn't for getting this owners' [championship], it wouldn't have been that good," said Hornaday, who was suffering from flu-like symptoms. "It was a good night all around for KHI. That's pretty cool."

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