It was the fourth victory at Chicagoland for Harvick, who won the first two Cup races held here in 2001 and 2002 and won the track's Busch race in 2005.

Kyle Busch was leading when Aric Almirola spun out to bring out a caution flag with 34 laps to go, forcing teams to make a strategy decision: stay out to hold their position on the track or make a pit stop to get fresh tires.

Busch dove into the pits, and the other leaders appeared to follow him in — but Burton pulled back on the track at the last second while Busch continued on to make a pit stop, an apparent fake-out move by Burton's No. 29 team.

By not pitting, Burton took the lead back for a re-start with 30 to go.

Busch dropped back to eighth, costing him position on the track but giving him fresher tires than the other contenders for the closing laps of the race. Busch then lost a spot to Carl Edwards on the re-start, dropping to ninth.

Harvick drew side-by-side with Burton with 28 laps to go, then pulled past to assume the lead for good one lap later. Kenseth passed Burton for second with 14 laps to go, but couldn't chase down Harvick in time.

Kenseth finished second, followed by Burton and Clint Bowyer — putting three Richard Childress Racing cars in the top four.

Busch rallied to finish fifth, expressing frustration about his team's strategy decision over his in-car radio.

Burton's strong finish came despite a malfunctioning fresh air hose that sent temperatures soaring in his car on an 84-degree day at the track.

Busch Series points leader Carl Edwards, who came into today's race with a commanding 798-point lead over fellow Cup series regular Kevin Harvick, was running in the top 10 in the late stages of the race. But he had to pull off the track with 23 laps to go to serve a NASCAR penalty for a procedural violation by his pit crew and finished 20th.