Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team collected their eighth-consecutive top-10 finish after taking the checkered flag third under the lights at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday evening. Starting from the 26th position, Harvick dropped back in the field during the early laps of the 400-mile event to avoid the troubles synonymous with superspeedway racing. As the race progressed, the California native waited for the right opportunity to begin working his way toward the front of the field, which came at lap 101 when he drove up to the sixth position. Following a fuel-only pit stop on lap 127, Harvick returned to the track in the fourth position and held a spot near the front of the field, working his way up to as high as second. The Richard Childress Racing driver was shuffled around in the pack during the green-white-checkered finish, but maintained ground crossing the finish line third. Following his 10th top-10 finish of the season, Harvick remains fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.
KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:
"I thought we were in a good spot. The whole thing on the restarts is just getting your line to form. Everybody on our Budweiser Chevrolet team did a great job. We were able to hold Jimmie (Johnson) door-to-door until the exit of turn two, but on both of those restarts the No. 14 and No. 15, and whoever was behind them. just couldn't get our line formed up. All night it seemed like the top line would form pretty fast and those guys were able to get going a lot quicker than the inside line."