Kevin Harvick and the Shell-Pennzoil Racing team continued to climb the ladder in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship point standings with an eighth-place run in Sunday’s 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway.   

The spirited effort, which marked Harvick and Company’s third consecutive top-10 finish, lifted the group from 11th to eighth in points for a net gain of three positions.   

Harvick, 10th in last season’s final rundown, is now just 42 points behind Greg Biffle in seventh, 59 behind Tony Stewart in sixth and 268 points outside of the top five.   

The 11-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner started the 400-mile event 38th and catapulted 14 positions before the first caution flag flew on lap 19.  Requiring more grip to turn better through the corners, Harvick visited pit road three laps later.  Crew chief Todd Berrier called for air pressure adjustments to all four fresh Goodyear tires and a minor chassis adjustment.  A stellar pit stop by the No. 29 over-the-wall crew netted Harvick four spots on pit road and he restarted the 200-lap event 20th on lap 25.    

Although he drove a loose-handling machine for the majority of the race, the Bakersfield, Calif., native continued to scale the leaderboard and was 11th by the halfway point of the race.   

Green-flag pit stops began on lap 137 with Harvick still running in the top 10.  The 32-time NASCAR Nationwide Series winner made the hard left turn down pit road two laps later for a routine four-tire pit stop that included another round of chassis adjustments.  Once the green-flag pit stops cycled through, the field the 2007 Daytona 500 winner was listed 11th.

Harvick continued to run in and around the top 10 until the fifth caution flag flew on lap 179 for debris on the racing surface.  Berrier summoned his driver to pit road for a two-tire pit stop and a full tank of fuel.  With some of the leaders taking four tires, Harvick was able to pick up three spots on pit road and restarted eighth on lap 182.   

Two caution flags plagued the last 18 laps of the race and Harvick was unable to make a charge at the leaders.  The bright yellow and red machine crossed the finish line eighth.   

The eighth-place finish was the ninth top-10 finish of the season and the fourth in the last five races for the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Racing team.   

Carl Edwards notched his fifth series win of 2008 over Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Biffle and Matt Kenseth.   

Harvick’s Richard Childress Racing teammates, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer, finished the 23rd race of the season 11th and 20th, respectively. 

Next weekend, NASCAR’s premier division returns to the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” for one of the most highly touted stops on the Sprint Cup Series schedule.   

The Sharpie 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will take the green flag Saturday, Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The race will be televised live on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. EDT and broadcast from coast-to-coast on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio.  Qualifying for the 24th race on the 2008 calendar will be televised live on SPEED Friday, Aug. 22 at 3:30 p.m. EDT.   

KEVIN HARVICK - NO. 29 SHELL-PENNZOIL CHEVROLET IMPALA SS –
“Our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet was good from the time we unloaded.  I just want to thank all my guys for putting this thing together and having a good day on a track that has been historically not so good for us.  It has been a great few months and we are looking forward to keeping it going.  The eighth-place finish at Michigan was definitely what we needed.  A couple of guys on the bubble had some bad luck which helped us move up in the points.  We will just keep at it and hopefully prevent those bad days.”