By Chris Jenkins
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) _ Paul Menard found himself being pushed by Kevin Harvick with less than three laps to go at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday night.
However, Harvick ended up paying the price, and Menard got his first career NASCAR Busch Series win.
Menard took the green flag with Harvick on his tail on a restart with three laps to go, then pulled his car to the bottom of the track to force Harvick to try to pass on the outside.
``He didn't want to go up there, I guess,'' Menard said. ``He thought the best way was through me.''
Harvick instead shoved the nose of his car under Menard's rear bumper as they ran through Turn 2, causing Menard's car to jump sideways. But Menard managed to straighten out his Chevrolet on the backstretch _ and Harvick was booted from behind by J.J. Yeley, touching off a seven-car pileup.
``He checked up, and I was right there,'' Yeley said. ``Couldn't avoid it.''
The late accident forced the race into NASCAR's version of overtime, as officials added a two-lap green-flag sprint to the finish. Menard got a clean restart and held on to win the AT&T 250.
It was the last in a series of late-race restarts that forced Menard to work hard for the win.
``It was like in the NFL, when they 'ice' the kicker,'' said Menard, a Wisconsin native.
Menard wasn't perfect on the final two restarts, spinning his wheels under acceleration, but the mistakes didn't cost him the race.
The same couldn't be said for Jason Leffler.
Leffler was leading the race with 45 laps to go and appeared to be one mistake-free pit stop away from his second career Busch Series victory. But he spun out while trying to slow down to get on pit road.
``It's unfortunate it had to work out that way, but we'll take it any way we can,'' Menard said.
Denny Hamlin passed Yeley in overtime to finish second in a Chevrolet. Yeley finished third in a Chevrolet, followed by Leffler in a Chevrolet and Mike Wallace in a Dodge.
Harvick finished 19th but retained the series points lead.
``I got a good restart, just got underneath him and he did what he had to do to protect the bottom,'' Harvick said of the incident with Menard. ``I got in the back of him, someone got in the back of me and we all just wrecked.''
Hamlin, who came from the back of the pack to lead 64 laps and dominate much of Saturday's race, was on pit road when Leffler spun out _ a bad break that allowed the rest of the leaders to make their pit stops under caution.
Hamlin was livid when NASCAR officials told him he was nearly a lap behind the leaders after their pit stops, and questioned the call after the race.
Was the long plane trip from California worth it?
``It would have been fine, if I'd smelled like beer and champagne right now,'' Hamlin said.
Hamlin and three other Nextel Cup regulars making the long commute from the Cup Series race weekend in Sonoma, Calif., _ Yeley, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards _ had to start from the back of the pack because they didn't get to Milwaukee in time for qualifying on Saturday. NASCAR penalizes teams for changing drivers between qualifying and the race.
Two other Cup regulars, Harvick and Clint Bowyer, made it to the track in time for qualifying and avoided the penalty _ but Hamlin and Yeley insisted after the race that Harvick and Bowyer also should have been sent to the back for missing a pre-race drivers' meeting.
Caution flags slowed the race 11 times for 58 laps.
Mark McFarland received unspecified injuries in Harvick's pile-up, and a track spokesman said he would fly home to North Carolina for a follow-up visit with his doctor.
Notes: A total of 41 cars started Saturday's race, two short of a full field. The Busch Series' last short fields came in 2003, when it drew 41 cars to Gateway International Raceway and 42 cars to Darlington Raceway. ... In addition to the four Cup regulars penalized for missing qualifying, drivers Steve Wallace and Kim Crosby had to start from the back for unapproved adjustments to their cars before the race. ... Saturday's attendance was announced at 41,510.
