Budweiser Racing Team Notes of Interest
• Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS team scored a seventh-place finish in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
• Harvick started the race from the fifth position and moved up to fourth before the team hit pit road for the first time at lap 30. Harvick reported the car was “tight to the center,” so crew chief Rodney Childers called for right-side tires, fuel, and air pressure and track bar adjustments on the team’s pit stop. He returned to the track in the fourth position and gained two spots on the restart.
• The handling problems continued on the following run and when Harvick brought the car back down pit road again at lap 78, the team changed four tires, added fuel and made a chassis adjustment. Lugnuts fell off of the right-right tire during the stop, leaving Harvick to lineup in the 16th position when the field took the green flag at lap 84.
• Harvick gained five positions on the restart and was inside the top 10 within three laps. He remained in the top 10 until the caution flag waved at lap 125. Once again, the team opted for a four-tire pit stop with chassis adjustments. Fast work by the No. 4 Budweiser pit crew gained Harvick three spots on pit road, putting him sixth for the lap 131 restart.
• Harvick worked his way into the top five and stayed there until Childers called him to pit road again at lap 178. The team opted for right-side tires, fuel and air pressure and chassis adjustments. Several teams opted not to pit during the caution period, which put Harvick 10th on the lap 181 restart.
• He worked his way up to seventh before teams started making green-flag pit stops. The caution flag waved in the midst of the pit cycle and Childers called Harvick to pit road for the team’s last stop of the night at lap 216. The No. 4 Budweiser pit crew changed four tires, added fuel and made adjustments. Due to varying strategy on pit road and the teams that had already pitted under green-flag conditions, Harvick restarted eighth at lap 219.
• Harvick raced his way up to the fourth position by lap 243, but in the closing laps he thought he had a tire issue and fell back to seventh before the checkered flag waved.
• Brad Keselowski scored the win at Kentucky Speedway. Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the top-five positions.
• Jeff Gordon continues to lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings following Saturday’s race. Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski and Kenseth complete the top-five spots. Harvick remains ninth in the standings.
The following is the finishing position of the other Stewart-Haas Racing teams in Saturday's race:
• Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet team finished 11th.
• Kurt Busch and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet team 12th.
• Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet team finished 21st.
Coming Up:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Daytona Beach, Florida, next week to compete in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. On Thursday, FOX Sports 1 will have live coverage of both practice sessions at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 1 will also air Friday’s qualifying session at 5 p.m. ET. TNT will provide the live broadcast of Saturday night’s event at 7:30 p.m. ET. MRN Radio affiliates and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio will have live coverage of the event.