Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet team rebounded from an early wreck to score an 11th-place finish in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Harvick started from the 14th position and quickly gained a spot before cars ahead of him made contact in Turns 1 and 2 and the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was collected in the aftermath. He brought the car to pit road for repairs and crew chief Shane Wilson calmly instructed the team on what to do. Wilson made sure they remained on the lead lap even though the team had to pit multiple times to work on the car under the lengthy caution period and Harvick restarted in the 35th position at lap 46.
• Harvick raced his way up to the 22nd spot in less than 50 laps and continued to gain ground on the cars ahead of him until the caution flag waved again at lap 115. The team pitted for fresh tires, fuel and adjustments and Harvick restarted 19th.
• The No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was too tight at the start of the run and Harvick fell back several positions before he was able to gain some ground and got back up to 19th.
• As Harvick got up to the 17th position, teams started making green-flag pit stops. Five laps later Wilson called him to pit road at lap 243 for a four-tire stop with adjustments. Solid work on pit road helped move Harvick up to the 13th position and kept him on the lead lap as green-flag stops cycled through.
• Harvick was running 14th at lap 339 when the caution flag waved once again and radioed to the team that the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet was a “little tight to the center (of the corner) and loose off.” Wilson called for a four-tire stop and a chassis adjustment to help aid the car’s handling and Harvick restarted 14th.
• The caution flag waved again less than 20 laps later and Harvick told the team that the adjustments hadn’t helped the car’s handling, so Wilson called him back down pit road for a four-tire stop. While on pit road the team worked on the car’s right-front and pulled a spring rubber from the left-rear. Harvick restarted in the 14th position and held that spot until the caution flag waved again more than 100 laps later.
• The No. 29 Budweiser team pitted for four-tires on lap 479 and Harvick restarted in the 12th position on lap 483. Harvick raced his way up to ninth in the first few laps before slipping back a couple spots and took the checkered flag in the 11th position.
• Brad Keselowski scored the win in Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Matt Kenseth finished second and Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers completed the top-five spots.
• Greg Biffle sits atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings following the fourth race of the season. He holds a nine-point lead over Harvick. Kenseth sits third, followed by Truex in fourth and Denny Hamlin is ranked fifth.
• 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. Fans can also interact with Harvick on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OfficialKevinHarvick.
Kevin Harvick on his finish at Bristol Motor Speedway:
You guys were in the first wreck today. What happened there? “By the time they told me to check up, I was in it. I didn’t even have time to touch the brakes before I was into the car in front of me. All in all, I think we had a fairly decent day considering all the damage. We hung onto the lead lap all day and finished 11th. I think everybody did a good job and I’ve just got to thank everybody on my No. 29 Budweiser Chevy team for fixing the car up and doing the best we could with a wrecked car.”
A lot of guys said guys were racing way too hard too early. Is that what happened out there? “Probably not. It’s one of those things where it’s just so hard to pass and everybody gets to running up high and it becomes so hard to pass that you take all you can when you can get it.”
The following is the finish position of the other beverage-sponsored cars participating in the Food City 500:
• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished first.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet team finished 15th.
• Travis Kvapil and the No. 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota team finished 27th.
• Landon Cassill and the No. 83 Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota team finished 29th.
The following is the finish position of the other Richard Childress Racing teams participating in the Food City 500:
• Jeff Burton and the No. 31 BB&T Chevrolet team finished sixth.
• Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 MOEN/Menards Chevrolet finished 10th.
• Brendan Gaughan and the No. 33 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet team finished 22nd.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will head to Auto Club Speedway for Sunday’s Auto Club 400. On Friday, the first practice session is scheduled for noon – 1:30 p.m. PT and will be followed by qualifying at 4:10 p.m. PT. SPEED will provide live coverage of both, as well as Saturday’s practice sessions scheduled for 9:30 – 10:20 a.m. PT and 12:50 – 1:50 p.m. PT. On Sunday, FOX will air live coverage of the race starting with the pre-race show at 2:30 p.m. PT. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the live radio broadcast.