No. 29 Budweiser Designated Driver Chevrolet
SYLVANIA 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• At a track where track position is the key to a solid run, Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Designated Driver Chevrolet team salvaged a 12th-place finish in Sunday’s SYLVANIA 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after poor fuel mileage forced the team to pit off sequence from the leaders and put Harvick back in traffic during the final portion of the race.
• Harvick started Sunday’s race from the sixth position and worked his way into the top five at lap 74. Despite minor handling issues, he kept the No. 29 Budweiser Designated Driver Chevrolet inside the top 10 until he hit pit road for the third time under green-flag conditions at lap 149.
• The caution flag waved for the second time just six laps later and since several teams had yet to pit, Harvick was caught a lap down in fifth. However, the No. 29 team was the first car a lap down, making Harvick the “Lucky Dog” recipient, so he was able to get back on the lead lap. Crew chief Gil Martin called him to pit road for four fresh tires and fuel and Harvick restarted in the fifth position at lap 162.
• Harvick jumped up to fourth on lap 167 and the caution flag waved once again six laps later. Martin told Harvick they couldn’t make it on fuel with just one more pit stop, while some teams were going to try and stretch it on one more stop, so he called the No. 29 Budweiser Designated Driver Chevrolet to pit road at lap 174 for a fuel-only stop.
• Harvick restarted in the 10th position at lap 177. Several laps later he radioed the team that the car was “too loose in traffic,” as he fell back to 14th.
• The field went through another round of green-flag pit stops as cars started hitting pit road at lap 218. Harvick stayed out and led lap 237 before hitting pit road on the following lap. The team pitted for four tires and fuel on their final stop of the day.
• As teams continued to cycle through pit stops, Harvick made it up to the 15th position with 15 laps to go. In the final six laps of the race, several drivers ran out of fuel and Harvick was able to collect a 12th-place finish.
• Tony Stewart went to Victory Lane for the second week in-a-row in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers completed the top-five finishing positions.
• With the win, Stewart took over the top position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He holds a seven-point lead over Harvick. Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Gordon round out the top-five spots.
• Follow along each weekend with Harvick and the team on Twitter. Check out @KevinHarvick for behind-the-scenes information straight from the driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Get live updates from the track each weekend from @Black29Car, the PR team for Harvick. Also, follow @RCRracing and @RCR29KHarvick for additional information about the Richard Childress Racing organization.
Crew chief Gil Martin on the team’s run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway: “We had a good car all day long. Track position meant so much and we gambled, well we didn’t gamble, we came in and got fuel and it went to fuel stops under green right there. You wouldn’t think that would happen, but it did. We needed to have gotten a little bit better fuel mileage than we got today, but we were making a lot of horsepower. You make a lot of horsepower, it takes fuel mileage. I’ll take that, there’s nothing wrong. If someone would have told me that we would be seven points out of the lead after two races, I’d have been tickled to death. I am not going to be mad going into Dover seven points out of the lead with eight to go…we’re still in this thing.”
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the SYLVANIA 300:
• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished second.
• Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota team finished fifth.
• Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Affliction Clothing Ford team finished sixth.
• Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, finished 15th.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet team finished 17th.
• Mike Bliss and the No. 32 Street King Ford team finished 31st.
• Robby Gordon and the No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge team finished 40th.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the SYLVANIA 300:
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team finished 13th.
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 Sylvania/Menards Chevrolet, finished 20th.
• Clint Bowyer and the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet finished 26th.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will travel to Dover, Del., for the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. ESPN will provide the TV broadcast of Sunday’s race starting with the pre-race show at 1 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio coverage of the race.