Harvick gets first victory of his career

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 12:25 p.m.

Two late caution flags may have been just what Kevin Harvick needed to secure his first career NASCAR Winston West Racing Series victory. But they also robbed former NFL coach Jerry Glanville of his.

Harvick, who led the first 45 laps from the pole, regained the lead on lap 57 after a mid-race pit stop and held off late charges by Tony Toste and Glanville to capture the Cactus Clash Wednesday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"When we unloaded, the car was good and it was good all night," Harvick, a 22-year-old Bakersfield, Calif., resident, said. "We've been fast at every Winston West race we've been to."

Fast, perhaps, but not the fastest Wednesday night, according to Glanville.

"If the race had stayed green long, we would have won," Glanville said. "But we got hurt by the cautions. If they went over 14, 15 laps green, we were the fastest guys out there.

"I could get them on long greens so we didn't want to see another caution because, man, we had a shot."

The first beneficial caution for Harvick came on lap 94, after Craig Raudman spun and hit the wall in turn two.

"That was a good caution for us because our car was definitely getting tight," Harvick said. "The caution allowed us to cool our tires down and it helped us out."

The green flag came out on lap 97, setting up a potential three-lap sprint to the finish. But another crash on lap 98 brought out the seventh caution of the race and Harvick raced back to the yellow flag for the win.

"The Winston West Series is a tough series -- there are a lot of tough competitors out there," Harvick said. "It feels good to finally get (my first win) out of the way."

Las Vegas resident Brendan Gaughan, who qualified ninth, was running second with 16 laps remaining and had closed to within three car lengths of Harvick. But Gaughan dropped off the pace two laps later and finished 19th.