Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS team were credited with a 13th-place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500 after getting caught up in a last-lap wreck on Daytona International Speedway’s frontstretch.
• Harvick started Sunday’s race from the 38th position and stayed toward the back of the field for the first quarter of the race.
• Around lap 50, Harvick began to make his move toward the front and was running inside the top five by lap 64.
• The field cycled through two rounds of green-flag pit stops before the caution flag waved at lap 146. Harvick made slight contact with the No. 33 car, but the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet didn’t receive significant damage. The team pitted twice under the caution period to make chassis adjustments and top off with fuel and Harvick restarted in the 12th position when the field took the green flag at lap 153.
• Harvick was scored in the third position when the caution flag waved once again at lap 183. After the subsequent restart he remained in the top five until the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet was shuffled back in the draft to 10th.
• The caution flag waved once more at lap 195, setting the field up for a green-white-checkered finish. Coming to the finish line, Harvick made contact with the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch and a six-car wreck ensued. The No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet team was credited with a 13th-place finish and Harvick was evaluated and released from the infield care center.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the checkered flag in Sunday’s race. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson completed the top-five positions.
• Earnhardt Jr. is the current leader of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. Hamlin, Keselowski, Gordon and Johnson complete the top-five spots. Harvick is ranked 12th following Sunday’s race.
Harvick on the last-lap wreck and his finish in the Daytona 500:
“My car just went straight. I thought I had a flat tire, but Carl (Edwards) and Reed (Sorenson) said that they about spun out the lap before down there with some oil or whatever was on the race track. My car just went in there and went straight like it blew a right-front tire and I clobbered the side of the No. 18. I hate it for everybody who got their cars torn up, but the guys on our Budweiser Chevy did good all night. We kind of got stuck in a bad spot there before that last yellow and got back there where we didn’t need to be. All in all it was a good week and even though we wrecked, we still finished.”