Harvick wins at Nashville

The victory was Harvick?s first of the season and 18th of his Busch career.

?A great day for the U.S. Coast Guard Chevrolet,? said Harvick. ?We got in the back of the No.5 there and got a little fender damage but Shane (Wilson) did a great job keeping the car freed up and keep it turning at the end of the race.?

Denny Hamlin, pole winner for the second consecutive week, brought the 43-car field to the green flag for a scheduled 225-lap race.

But Hamlin led barely half a lap before Bowyer and the defending Pepsi 300 winner, Reed Sorenson, flew past him on the outside. In fact, the pole winner fell all the way to seventh place.

Bowyer and Sorenson quickly built up a two-second margin, but Harvick was moving up and closing in on the top pair.

The early portion of the race was interrupted by numerous cautions brought out by spins from Kyle Busch, Matt McCall and Kevin Lepage.

Sorenson took advantage of the third caution to pit for the first time, while leader Bowyer remained on the track.

Bowyer led 54 of 71 laps before finally making his first stop of the day for fuel and tires. But his stop, a slow one due to a faulty fuel-filler nozzle, took place under green flag conditions and left him two laps down in 34th place.

That gave the lead back to Hamlin, though Harvick was right on his rear bumper. Harvick took the lead for the first time on lap 82.

Following another caution flag, everyone pitted, but Harvick came out just seventh on the track. Hamlin again inherited the lead with J.J. Yeley and Carl Edwards right behind.

Bowyer stayed on the track during the previous two caution flag periods and returned to the lead lap on lap 98, but he was still in 22nd place.