•Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team salvaged a 13th-place finish in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway after a caution in the midst of the first round of green-flag pit stops caught most of the field two laps down to the leaders.
•Harvick started the race from the 13th position. After falling back to 15th during the first run of the race, he radioed to the team that the car was tight in the center of the corner and had no grip up on exit. Crew chief Gil Martin called Harvick to pit road at lap 64 for a green-flag stop. The No. 29 Budweiser crew changed tires, added fuel and made track bar and air pressure adjustments.
•The field continued to cycle through green-flag stops until the caution flag waved at lap 69, leaving just the top-six cars on the lead lap. All of the other teams that had pitted were scored two laps down to the leaders, including Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team.
•When the leaders hit pit road under caution, Harvick and many other drivers took the wave around to get one of their laps back. Harvick restarted from the 20th position, on lap down, at lap 76. During the subsequent run he told the team that the car was getting “tighter in the middle every lap and looser off.”
•Once again the field cycled through green-flag pit stops. Martin called Harvick to pit road at lap 140 for fresh tires and fuel. The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was scored in the 17th position, two laps down when the caution flag waved again at lap 178. Some teams opted to take the wave around, but since they were nearly halfway through the run, Martin and Harvick opted to pit instead and changed tires, added fuel and made a wedge adjustment at lap 181.
•Harvick restarted from the 19th position at lap 184. Another long, green-flag run followed and the No. 29 Budweiser team’s gamble to hit pit road under caution paid off as the teams that had elected to take the wave around instead had to pit under green-flag conditions, moving Harvick up to the 13th position at lap 227.
•Harvick remained inside the top-15 through the remainder of the race. The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team made their final pit stop at lap 312 for fresh tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. Martin had Harvick immediately start trying saving fuel in an effort to stretch it to the end of the race without stopping again.
•The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was scored in the 12th position for much of the final run, but fell back to 13th at the end as Harvick focused on making it to the checkered flag on fuel.
•Brad Keselowski scored the win in Sunday’s race. Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards completed the top-five positions.
•With the win, Keselowski took over the lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He holds a five-point lead over Johnson and Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart round out the top-five spots in the standings.
Harvick on his finish at Dover International Speedway:
Can you assess your race today? It was kind of crazy with all of the different pit strategies: “Our car wasn’t very good. We got caught with that one caution and that kind of got us a couple of laps behind. We made some good adjustments and got it back to where we needed to, but just couldn’t make up those two laps.”