BUSCH SERIES Kevin Harvick wins race shortened by heavy rain

Tony Stewart led 82 of 100 laps.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- Pit strategy and rain helped Kevin Harvick win the shortened Cabela's 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.
The race was scheduled for 125 laps but called after 110.
Reigning Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart, making his first Busch start since 1998, dominated most of the day, leading 82 of the first 100 laps.
With the leaders apparently needing to pit before the end of the race, Stewart gave up the lead to Harvick when he putted on lap 101. Stewart came out of the pits 17th and had worked his way to 11th by lap 109, when rain began pelting the 2-mile oval.
NASCAR officials red-flagged the race at the end of the 110th lap and tried to dry the track, but more rain forced them to call it an official race about 40 minutes later.
Pit strategy paid off
"We tried to play the strategy out there at the end," said Harvick, a Winston Cup regular. "Tony probably had the best car. I think everybody was going to pit. We'd have had to pit, too."
The disappointed Stewart said his team made the right call, bringing him in for gas and two fresh tires near the end.
"We just needed it to go back to green so we could go by and pass those guys ahead of us and win this thing like we deserved to do," Stewart said.
Harvick, the 2001 Busch Series champion, picked up his 11th career victory and third this season. He has finished in the top 10 in all nine of his Busch starts this year, including seven top-threes.
On Saturday, he led only the last 10 laps. It is the 13th time in 22 races this season that a Winston Cup regular won a Busch race.
Harvick averaged 140.850 mph in a race slowed by 13 caution laps.
Pole-winner Kasey Kahne wound up second, followed by Bobby Hamilton Jr., David Green and series leader Scott Riggs. Green gained five points on Riggs and now trails by just two in the championship race.