NASCAR notebook

FORT WORTH, Texas - A fast pit stop helped Kevin Harvick grab an emotional victory Saturday in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

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Harvick, whose father-in-law died earlier this week after a long illness, took the lead with a pit stop of just over 17 seconds on lap 168 of the 200-lap race. He then ran off to his fourth victory of the season and 17th career win in the Busch series.

The part-time series driver beat fellow Nextel Cup star Greg Biffle. Harvick was about 2 seconds - 20 car-lengths - ahead of Biffle on the 1.5-mile oval halfway through the last lap when J.J. Yeley crashed, ending the race under caution.

Harvick, who will also race in today's Dickies 500, was teary-eyed and could barely speak after getting hugs from wife DeLana and his Cup car owner Richard Childress in Victory Circle.

"Yeah, it's been a tough week," he said, choking back the tears. "I want to thank all these guys, my wife, everybody. It's tough."

Later, a dry-eyed Harvick said, "It's been the hardest week I've ever had to go through. This (win) has been a little release to help heal the thing, but you've just got to take it day by day.

"Everything just worked out. We had a great pit stop and the 39 (Ryan Newman) didn't pit and then got bit by the caution. If we hadn't made a lot of good adjustments on that last stop, though, it wouldn't have been such a good day."

ALTERED LIFE: Somewhere among the 170,000 fans at Texas Motor Speedway will be a man solely responsible for today's race.

There will be no fanfare for Francis Ferko or seats in the luxury box. His face won't be displayed on any of the speedway's giant television screens. His name will only be said in whispers, far away from ears that matter.

Ferko's lawsuit forced NASCAR to award Texas a second racing date in an out-of-court settlement. The food-safety expert sued for the second date, claiming NASCAR essentially acted as a monopoly since the same family that owns NASCAR owns more than half the speedways.

Since winning the suit, Ferko's life has hit the wall.

According to the Fort Worth Telegraph, Ferko not only lost his job, he's working through a divorce. Also, his son, Anthony, committed suicide.

Ferko has since moved to the Atlanta area. The move, he said, might have led to his son's suicide.

Since winning the lawsuit, the speedway and NASCAR have turned their back on him. Officials at Texas have distanced themselves in fear that any acknowledgment will anger NASCAR. The sanctioning body has nothing to do with him because he's one of the few people to actually challenge NASCAR's power and win.

Because of Ferko, North Carolina Speedway was closed and that race was moved to Texas.

"I'm a fan first, and that's why I got involved," Ferko said. "I really believed that what I did was right and that Texas deserved its race."