Harvick wins on Saturday

HAMPTON, Ga. – Kevin Harvick is becoming the puppet master of the truck series. The veteran Sprint Cup driver has drastically expanded his trucks schedule the past two years to temper Kyle Busch’s assault and keep Chevrolet’s presence strong. The race team he owns sustains itself by selling equipment, he estimates, to a third of the teams that were in Satjurdeay's field at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“If they want this one, they can come have this one, too,” he said.

And why wouldn’t they? Saturday was already a banner business day for Kevin Harvick Inc. He ran off with the second Truck series race of the season, leading 100 of 130 laps and besting runner-up Busch by 1.308 seconds.

Harvick, making his first Truck start of 2010, has won three straight in the series. That makes it five wins and nine top-five finishes in his last nine. That was the plan, he said.

“A lot of the reason we race trucks is to make sure Kyle Busch doesn't win all those races,” Harvick said. “That's honest-to-God truth. Sometimes you have to protect your turf.

"He was the only one racing and was important for us and Chevrolet to score as many points as we could. We had to protect from him winning seven or eight races a year. He's going to win his fair share still. He's a good driver.”

Busch, another successful Sprint Cup barnstormer – now with his own team and fielding Tundras – won seven of the 15 Truck series races he entered in 2009.

He has finished second in three of Harvick's series wins.

Aric Almirola, who replaced Busch at Billy Ballew Motorsports, finished third. Harvick’s one-man crusade saved his manufacturer on Saturday as five of the top-seven finishers were Tundras. Toyota, which entered the series in 2004, has won four consecutive manufacturer titles.

Defending truck series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. was involved in an early accident and lasted just 22 laps.