When Kevin Harvick announced at the start of the 2007 season that he wouldn't be contesting all 35 Busch Series races this season he knew he was giving up the chance to mount a proper defence of his championship but that didn't deter him from showing a clean pair of heels to the field on the day that Carl Edwards was crowned as his title successor.
Harvick's sixth win of the season in just 24 Busch starts means that he holds on to fourth place in the overall championship standings despite watching nine races from his motor home so far this year and stands a very good chance of grabbing third overall should he decide to contest the final two races.
The 200-lap O'Reilly Challenge saw Cup Series drivers take a top five clean sweep with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth completing the rout with Brad Keselowski's sixth place effort the best the Busch Series regulars could muster.
Tony Stewart looked set to provide Harvick's stiffest challenge until contact with a slower car adversely affected his aerodynamics and he could only fight back to seventh place with Jeff Burton eighth.
Tony Raines and Stephen Leicht rounded out the top ten with eleventh place more than enough to seal the 2007 Championship for Carl Edwards. Edwards' sole remaining championship rival heading into Saturday's race, David Reutimann finished one lap down in 18th place and with a championship advantage of 552 points with two races to go Edwards sealed his first, and team boss Jack Roush's second Busch crown.
Saturday's race also provided new stock car converts Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr with a high speed taste of what they can expect next season and both finished cleanly, albeit several laps down with Franchitti 25th and Hornish Jr 31st.
![Kevin Harvick wins the Orbitz 300 Busch Series race at Daytona [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289384.jpg)
