Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS team finished 17th in Sunday’s FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway after a flat tire forced the team to make an unscheduled green-flag pit stop just before the halfway point of the race.
• Harvick started the event from the eighth position and moved up to fifth before the caution flag waved for the first time at lap 65. He radioed to the team that the car was tight through the center of the corner and loose on exit, so crew chief Rodney Childers called for a four-tire stop with air pressure and track bar adjustments when the team pitted.
• The No. 4 Budweiser team gained two positions on the stop, putting Harvick third for the lap 70 restart. He then raced his way past the No. 18 car at lap 86 to move up to second.
• Harvick took over the point position with an impressive move under leader Jimmie Johnson on the lap 140 restart. Seven laps later the caution flag waved as a 6-by-8-inch chunk of the track surface came up in Turn 2. The red flag was displayed and the field was stopped for 22 minutes and 22 seconds while NASCAR and track officials made repairs.
• Shortly after the field took the green flag at lap 164, Harvick started dropping back. He was able to get the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet to pit road on lap 166 and the team changed right-side tires. Team members and Goodyear officials inspected the right-front tire after the stop and determined that something knocked out the valve stem of the inner liner, causing it to go flat.
• As a result of the unscheduled green-flag pit stop, Harvick fell back to 31st and was scored two laps down to the leader. He moved up to 24th by lap 209 as teams that took the wave around on the previous caution pitted. The team elected to take the wave around at lap 240, putting Harvick just one lap down.
• He worked his way up to being the first car one lap down, but the team had to make a scheduled stop under green-flag conditions at lap 302 and the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet ended up three laps down to the leader. The rest of the field cycled through green-flag pit stops 20 laps later, which moved Harvick up to the 18th position and scored one lap down to the leader.
• Childers called Harvick to pit road under caution at lap 363 for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments. He restarted 18th at lap 366 and worked his way past the No. 5 car to put himself in position for the lucky dog award. Unfortunately, the caution flag didn’t wave again until the leader had already lapped another car, leaving Harvick one lap down in 17th and unable to gain any more positions.
• Johnson scored the win in Sunday’s race. Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five positions.
• Kenseth took over the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings following the race at Dover. Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. round out the top-five spots. Harvick remains 12th in the standings. He’s now four points back from 10th and 90 behind Kenseth.
Harvick on his finish at Dover:
“They said the valve stem got knocked out of the right front. It was another one of those fluke deals and we were never able to get back on the lead lap after that.”
The following is the finishing position of the other Stewart-Haas Racing teams in Sunday's race:
• Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Code 3/Mobil 1 Chevrolet team finished seventh.
• Kurt Busch and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet team 18th.
• Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet team finished 23rd.
Coming Up:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Long Pond, Pennsylvania, to compete in Pocono 400 next weekend at Pocono Raceway. FOX Sports 1 will provide coverage of Friday’s practice session at noon ET followed by qualifying at 4:30 p.m. ET. On Saturday, FOX Sports 1 will air both practice sessions at 9 a.m. ET and 11:30 a.m. ET. TNT will provide live coverage of Sunday’s race at 1 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will have radio coverage of the event.