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Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway

Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest:

• Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS team scored a fifth-place finish in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway (RIR).
• Harvick started the race from the fourth position and worked his way up to second by lap 30. Thirteen laps later he passed the No. 2 car of Brad Keselowski to take over the lead.
• NASCAR threw a competition caution at lap 50 due to rain earlier in the day. Crew chief Rodney Childers called Harvick to pit road on lap 53 for four tires, fuel, air pressure and wedge adjustments. Keselowski and Clint Bowyer in the No. 15 car got off of pit road ahead of Harvick, putting him third for the lap 57 restart.
• Harvick raced his way back into the lead position at lap 120 and he held that spot until the caution flag waved again four laps later. Once again, Harvick lost two spots on pit road and restarted third at lap 131. On the following run, Harvick noted the car was “absolutely horrible,” as he wasn’t able to make up ground on the leaders.
• At lap 229, Childers called Harvick to pit road for a scheduled, green-flag pit stop. The team changed tires, added fuel, changed air pressure and track bar adjustments. Fast work on pit road resulting in the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet rejoining the field within striking distance of the leader in the second position.
• Handling issues kept Harvick from making another challenge for the lead before the caution flag waved once again at lap 261. The team made air pressure, wedge and track bar adjustments at lap 263, and Harvick restarted in the second position.
• As he continued to battle a car that was loose in and off of the corners, Harvick fell to fifth during the following run, but was able to regain fourth position before the caution flag waved for the final time at lap 329.
• The team pitted for tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments and Harvick left pit road in the fifth position. In the closing laps, Harvick battled with the sixth-place car of Joey Logano. Harvick lost the spot with 25 laps to go, but was able to get back around Logano at lap 392 and finished the race in the fifth position.
• Keselowski scored the win at RIR. Jeff Gordon, Bowyer, Jamie McMurray and Harvick completed the top-five positions.
• Following Saturday night’s race, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field was reseeded. All of the drivers in the Chase go into next Sunday’s race with a base of 2,000 points, plus three bonus points for each race they’ve won thus far in 2014. With the win at RIR, Keselowski enters the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the No. 1 seed with 2,012 points. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Logano complete the top-five spots. Harvick enters the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup seeded sixth with 2,006 points. 

Harvick on the race at RIR and the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship: 

How was the car in tonight’s race?

“Our Budweiser Chevy, we fought all the problems we had in practice. We could run some good laps and some bad laps and the middle section of the run wasn’t very good, because I couldn’t run the bottom and I couldn’t run the top. I was just too loose up off the corner. It was an interesting night. I’m glad that one is over. That’s a long night when you’ve got to drive the cars like that. All in all it was a good night for our Budweiser team. They hung in there and we got a top five out of it.”

When you look at the tracks ahead, which ones are the best for you?

“They’re all good for us. I think we’ve run well at all the race tracks. It’s a matter of putting it all together on particular weekends and capitalizing on weekends when you’re the best car. Hopefully we can do that, but it will be an interesting 10 weeks.”

What are your chances for the championship?

“Our cars are really fast. I feel like we’ve overcome a lot of problems. We’ve gone 26 weeks and haven’t fixed pit road. We have to fix pit road in order to win a championship.”

The following is the finishing position of the other SHR teams in Saturday's race:

• Kurt Busch and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet team finished seventh. 
• Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet team finished 15th. 
• Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet team finished 16th. 

Coming Up:

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, next week for the first race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. ESPN will have live race coverage of the MyAFibStory.com 400 at 1p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast. 

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