Homestead, Fla. ? Kevin Harvick closed out a disappointing season in the Busch series by winning the final event of the year Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Harvick, the 2001 Busch series champion, moved to the front of the Ford 300 and had to hold off Jamie McMurray on several late restarts to lock up his second victory of the year.

Martin Truex Jr. clinched the Busch series title last week at Darlington Raceway, but didn’t get to enjoy the official championship ceremony until after he finished eighth at Homestead. He was presented with the trophy and celebrated with car owners Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

A series of cautions bunched the field a handful of times, giving McMurray a chance to get a jump on Harvick and pass him for the lead.

But he never could, and Harvick had a great start on the final restart with two laps to go and pulled away for the win.

“Our stuff has been off this year. We’ve had good cars, but we’ve been off,” said Harvick, who won at Las Vegas in March. “It’s good to be back in Victory Lane.”

Harvick has struggled in both the Busch and Nextel Cup series this season, and hasn’t won a Cup race since August of 2003. He also was shut out of the 10-race championship hunt.

McMurray, on the other hand, has been on fire in both series. He won the past two races.

He said he had only one real opportunity to pass Harvick and go for his third consecutive Busch series win.

“With 20 laps to go, I was able to get up on Kevin and get him loose,”

Harvick said. Rookie Kyle Busch was third, ending his season tied with Greg Biffle for the series rookie record of five wins in a season. He had hoped to give car owner Rick Hendrick a sixth victory, especially with Hendrick attending a race for the first time since the Oct. 24 plane crash that killed 10 family members and employees.

Reed Sorenson, an 18-year-old who will run the full Busch schedule next season, was fourth.