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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Starting from the pole at Watkins Glen International usually is a good omen in Nextel Cup. But racing the Car of Tomorrow for the first time on the high-speed road course without much practice promised a few surprises for today’s Centurion Boats at The Glen.

Although the race winner has started from the pole eight times in the previous 21 Cup races, there’s a feeling that hardened road racers, such as Canada’s Ron Fellows and crowd favorite Boris Said, might have their best chance yet of securing that elusive victory.

“With the old cars, if you had success you could go off and build on it,” said points leader Jeff Gordon, who has four wins at Watkins Glen and a NASCAR-record nine road course triumphs in his career. “Now, it’s basically starting from scratch. Experience is not going to play as much of a role.

“I think this car really equals out the competition,” said Gordon, who was awarded the pole when qualifying was canceled Friday because of a misting rain. “In the past, we had great races with Ron Fellows and Scott Pruett and those guys. I would say our cars were probably a little better than theirs, and that’s why we were able to beat them. But in this situation, I think those guys could possibly really shine. They’ve got a lot of laps here, they’re good here.”

Fellows has won three Busch Series races at Watkins Glen and twice finished second in Cup — to Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Stewart three years ago despite starting last. Said was third two years ago, while Pruett, who is not in the race, finished second to Robby Gordon in 2003 and was fourth two years ago.

It will be an uphill battle. Fellows will start 26th in the Chevrolet normally driven by Tony Raines, and Said, who is replacing Bill Elliott in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford, will start from the back of the 43-car field.

“It’s going to be more difficult because I don’t believe these cars have as much downforce as the old stock car,” Fellows said. “That’s going to make it tougher, and they’ve still got tremendous horsepower, so we’re going to be going awfully fast in a straight line.”

BUSCH SERIES: Kevin Harvick had victory lane to himself Saturday, using perfect pit strategy to win the Zippo 200.

Harvick, the defending Busch Series champion, led 37 laps and beat Jeff Burton by 3.5 seconds for his second consecutive win, fifth this season and 31st of his career. That ties him with Jack Ingram for second all-time behind Mark Martin’s 47.

“We’ve won 31 of these races,” Harvick said. “But you don’t get to race against those guys. All you have is the history.”

Polesitter Kurt Busch was third, followed by Paul Menard and rookie Brad Coleman. Juan Pablo Montoya, who started on the front row and was seeking a record third NASCAR road course win of the season, ran up front much of the day but finished 33rd after being caught up in a crash with Jason Leffler on a restart with 14 laps remaining in the 82-lap race.